MonkeyTail allows a user to tail multiple files on both local and remote hosts and clearly marks inactivity by putting 5 newlines in the output whenever a pause in output over 3 seconds is detected.

Getting Monkeytail

There's a few options for getting a copy of monkeytail.

• Obviously you can wander over to the git links above and check it out for yourself.
• You can simply download a copy of the script (since it's basically a single file application at the moment
• You can add my debian stable repo (deb http://debian.dollyfish.net.nz stable dollyfish) to your apt-sources, and use my nicely packaged version (this has to be the easiest option :-)

Current wishlist

I have a bunch of great ideas pending for this application (it's something I've been searching for for so long I finally just started writing it myself).

• [Implemented in 0.3.0] Ability to group log files in a configuration file (~/.monkeytailrc perhaps?) such that syntax like @myprojectlogs will be expanded to a set of log files
• Configurable time-delay for inserting newlines
• Configureable number of newlines to be inserted (and potentially an option to clear screan instead of newline insertion)
• Interactive mode where a keypress can invoke insertion of newlines or screen clearing