mtail-1.1.1

by matt hellige (matt@immute.net)

this is a file tailer with color support, written in python. it has a
modest home page at 'http://matt.immute.net/src/mtail'.

this is the 1.1 release. there are several bugfixes, but the main reason for
this release is to add support for the tailing of multiple files.  this README
will be expanded in future versions, and there are a few other features i'd
like to add, but i'm not planning on going overboard: i believe in small tools
for small jobs.

mtail now requires thread support from python. please let me know if this
is inconvenient and i can add support for a single-file, non-threaded 
mode.

i've used mtail with a few patchlevels/builds of python 1.5--2.1.  there may
still be issues with particular versions or builds, so please let me know i
you think you've found something. also, of course, please let me know if you
find bugs, fix bugs, or make any other improvements, and there's a good chance
they'll end up in a future release (with acknowledgements, of course).

please see the usage ("mtail -?") for details. the config file format is
described in mtailrc.sample, which you should copy to ~/.mtailrc (on 
windows, call the file .mtailrc and place it in a directory referred to by
%HOME%). some additional info may be gotten from comments in the script
itself. 

mtail is derived in small part from colortail-0.3.0 by joakim andersson 
(pt98jan@student.hk-r.se). it is an improvement on that work in several
areas:
  - it is roughly 500 lines of code, rather than roughly 3500.
  - it does not dump core when it encounters long lines.
  - the regexp matching process is simpler and, in my opinion, more intuitive,
    as is the config file format.
  - there is only one config file, which contains coloring rules for an 
    arbitrary number of files.
  - my coloring algorithm only generates escape codes when the color actually
    needs changing, rather than around every single character.
  - by virtue of being written in python, it is less platform-dependent.
  - i support pre-coloring filters.


please see the file LICENSE for copyright details and so on...
share and enjoy!
