How to use "tail"? .. no, the other kind!

rubyonrails-talk
1

I am reading "The Rails Way". On page 20, Obie says use $ tail -f log/development_log

OK, I am a windows VB guy. I don't know what that means. I assume it is a command? does it work in windows do I have to be in IRB. I just get errors.

Thanks in advance.

2

Ruby Freak wrote:

I am reading "The Rails Way". On page 20, Obie says use $ tail -f log/development_log

Get...

  - Cygwin Installation   - a tutorial on either Linux or BASH

The Linux tutorial will cover BASH.

Tip: After you learn a little BASH, you will not go back to CMD.EXE. Most of the keystrokes and commands are much easier to use, and more flexible.

Also, _don't_ install CygWin's version of Ruby, because if you current Ruby is configured well enough to run Rails, you don't need to ... derail that. But you might find yourself running cmd /c rake instead of just rake, for example.

And major props, honestly, to any book author who sincerely forgets there are Windows users out there...

3

Thanks Philp, I do have a Ubuntu box and I can do some rudimentary chugging about, but I bought a new lenovo and feel compelled to use it after dropping that much coin. I tried to install Ubuntu on the Lenovo and it died. Fiesty fawn I believe. Any thoughts on what might run? I have a new harddrive that is circling around town in a UPS truck as we speak, so that I can play around and get some form of linux going as Billy Gates is not on my Christmas card list.

Oh the joy of setting up a new system. ought to be fun. I will prolly wait for that rather than cygwin.

Thanks again.

4

Hi Ruby Freak - If you do end up having any type of window installation I do recommend installing cygwin on it. It goes beyond just tail and bash, you get MANY of the unix based tools (which are essential IMHO) available to you! It's stable too, I have used it in a production environment.

5

Ruby Freak wrote:

I do have a Ubuntu box and I can do some rudimentary chugging about, but I bought a new lenovo and feel compelled to use it after dropping that much coin. I tried to install Ubuntu on the Lenovo and it died. Fiesty fawn I believe. Any thoughts on what might run?

  -Cygwin Installation

cygwin is the core set of Linux toys, using Windows as its Hardware Abstraction Layer.

6

Do a google search on "windows tail", you'll get a couple of options there.

7

And major props, honestly, to any book author who sincerely forgets there are Windows users out there...

Phlip,

Thanks for the props. I thought you might like this snippet from the introduction to the book:

Required Technology

A late-model Apple MacBookPro with 4GB RAM, running OSX 10.4. Just kidding, of course. Linux is pretty good for Rails development also. Microsoft Windows — well, let me just put it this way — your mileage may vary. I'm being nice and diplomatic in saying that. We specifically do not discuss Rails development on Microsoft platforms in this book. To my knowledge, most working Rails professionals develop and deploy on non-Microsoft platforms.

Cheers, Obie

8

Sigh. Come see the repression inherent in the system...