shelljs/shelljs

feat: tail -f option

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#986 opened on Feb 3, 2020

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featurehelp wantedlow priority

Description

Originally filed in https://github.com/shelljs/shx/issues/172

We should support shell.tail('-f', ...). We would need to "follow" the file as it grows - basically, tail('-f') would never terminate. This isn't super useful in a programmatic context, but would be more useful in shx.

@martin-braun

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptnodejsshell
Domain
cli
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Node.js streamsfile systemcommon tail behavior
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60
Research direction
Investigate how existing tail command is implemented in shelljs/src/tail.js. The f option requires following file growth, likely using fs.watch or fs.watchFile. Need to ensure the function never resolves when f is used. Look at discussion in original issue #172 in shx repo for context.