1.7.3

Follow is a Java application which allows a user to monitor ("follow") several log files concurrently. The name and behavior of this application are inspired by the "f" (follow) flag of the UNIX command "tail".

Follow is licensed under the GNU GPL. For more information on the GNU GPL & free software, please visit wwww.gnu.org.

[ Features | Screenshots | Download | Install | Uninstall | Version History | Acknowledgements ]
[ Javadocs | SourceForge Project Page | Feedback ]

Features

The Follow application allows a user to ...

• Monitor ("follow") text files to which information is being appended asynchronously (e.g. log files)
• Jump quickly to the top or bottom of followed files
• Clear the contents of the text areas which display the contents of followed files (singly or all-at-once)
• Delete the contents of followed files (singly or all-at-once)
• Configure the buffering strategy & latency of the threads which follow files
• Open files using Drag-and-Drop
• Maintain session data across invocations of Follow (i.e. Follow remembers which files a user opens so it can re-open those files the next time it runs)
• Pause log files and replay where paused
• Highlight & search for text within a log file
• Restart a log while following

Screenshots

• Main application window (45KB)
• Configuration dialog (36KB)

Download

follow-1.7.3-jar-with-dependencies.jar (~454KB, contains classes and dependencies)

follow-1.7.3-jar-with-dependencies.jar (~141KB, contains only Follow classes)

Install

Once you have downloaded Follow, and assuming you have installed Java, no installation is necessary. To start Follow, simple invoke:

     java -jar follow-1.7.3-jar-with-dependencies.jar

Depending on how your environment is set up, you may have to type the absolute path to the java executable (for example "{$JAVA_HOME}\JRE\1.5.0\bin\java.exe" -jar follow-1.7.3-jar-with-dependencies.jar).

Uninstall

To "uninstall" Follow:

1. Remove follow1.7.1.jar from your machine
2. Go to your user directory and delete the file named .followApp.properties. This file contains your preference settings for Follow. (It is created the first time you start the application.)

Version History

1.7.1 (April 1, 2007)

Updated text area and search results to include a line indicator

Changed use of JTextPane back to JTextArea

1.7.0 (March 26, 2007)

Updated find functionality to include search results

Bug fixed: Fixed a CPU saturation (busy wait) bug on opening empty files.

1.5.0 (April 11, 2006)

Added find functionality

Added pause functionality

Merged reset functionality from contributed source

Updated copyright/license to list new developers

1.4.3 (April 6, 2003)

Bug fixed: Fixed a CPU saturation (busy wait) bug on empty files.

1.4.2 (July 1, 2003)

"Auto-reload" functionality (restart if the file was deleted and recreated) added.

Configurable external editor capability added.

Workaround implemented for a Solaris swing bug.

Now only the end of the file is initially loaded (like 'tail' does it).

1.4.1 (August 25, 2001)

Documentation/Copyright/License update; no functional change from version 1.4.

1.4 (June 21, 2001)

Bug fixed: threading problem "resolved" in 1.3.2 has now actually been resolved.

The oft-requested auto-scroll feature has been added.

1.3.2 (May 1, 2001)

Bug fixed: threading problem which occasionally caused application to hang on startup has been resolved (I think...)

1.3.1 (September 7, 2000)

Bug fixed: jdk1.3 startup-related issues resolved.

1.3 (September 4, 2000)

"Clear" and "Clear All" actions redefined to simply clear the text area(s)

"Delete" and "Delete All" actions introduced to perform the function previously performed by "Clear" and "Clear All"

Bug fixed: Configuration dialog now properly displays the currently selected font each time it is invoked

1.2 (August 20, 2000)

Font is now configurable

1.1 (July 26, 2000)

New in this release:

• "Clear All" action (has the same effect as performing the "Clear" action on each followed file)
• Right-click menu (contains essentially the same actions as the toolbar)
• Bigger toolbar buttons (a slight nod to Fitts' Law)
• Configurable tab placement (with the top of the main text area being the new default, rather than the bottom)

1.0.1 (June 27, 2000)

Bug fixed: Stream opened on a followed file now properly closed when the "Close" action is performed

1.0 (June 15, 2000)

Initial release

Acknowledgements

As of September 11, 2000, I'm using SourceForge to assist with bug tracking, version control, and distribution. Be sure to visit Follow's SourceForge project page.

Also, thanks to the GNU project for putting a link to Follow on their Java Software page.