doc: improve tail -f vs. inotify description and advice

* doc/coreutils.texi (tail invocation): Adjust, and add an example.
This commit is contained in:
Pádraig Brady 2011-05-24 06:44:24 +02:00 committed by Jim Meyering
parent 0a8d30534b
commit 64ceb14984

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@ -2830,10 +2830,17 @@ no @var{file} operand is specified and standard input is a FIFO or a pipe.
Likewise, the @option{-f} option has no effect for any
operand specified as @samp{-}, when standard input is a FIFO or a pipe.
With kernel inotify support, output is asynchronous and generally very prompt.
With kernel inotify support, output is triggered by file changes
and is generally very prompt.
Otherwise, @command{tail} sleeps for one second between checks---
use @option{--sleep-interval=@var{n}} to change that default---which can
make the output appear slightly less responsive or bursty.
When using tail without inotify support, you can make it more responsive
by using a sub-second sleep interval, e.g., via an alias like this:
@example
alias tail='tail -s.1'
@end example
@item -F
@opindex -F