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Nothing in that sentence says that --follow takes a filename. `name` in that sentence is not a standin for a filename.
by Arnavion 5y ago
Nothing in that sentence says that --follow takes a filename. `name` in that sentence is not a standin for a filename.
- dspillett 5y agoAh, yes. It looks like I was combining misreading with misremembering, wronging mashing “tail -f some-file” and “tail --follow=name some-file” into “tail --follow=some-file”. Though there is a difference between the short and long forms as -f can't take the extra parameter. “-f=name” is incorrect as it takes “=” to be a short-form option and “-f name” also as it takes “name” to be one of the objects to tail. As per the manpage and --help, for that behaviour you need “-F”. As well as meaning “--follow=name” that also implies “--retry”, though I can't think of a circumstance where this would be a problem.