How To Install xtail on Debian 9

In this tutorial we learn how to install xtail on Debian 9. xtail is like tail -f, but works on truncated files, directories, more

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install xtail on Debian 9.

What is xtail

xtail is:

xtail watches the growth of files. It’s like running a “tail -f” on a bunch of files at once. It notices if a file is truncated and starts from the beginning. You can specify both filenames and directories on the command line. If you specify a directory, it watches all the files in that directory. It will notice when new files are created (and start watching them) or when old files are deleted (and stop watching them).

Note that xtail isn’t a graphical (X11) program, it runs on a plain tty. The name likely comes from “eXtended tail” or such.

There are three methods to install xtail on Debian 9. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install xtail Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install xtail using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install xtail

Install xtail Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install xtail using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install xtail

Install xtail Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install xtail using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install xtail

How To Uninstall xtail on Debian 9

To uninstall only the xtail package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove xtail

Uninstall xtail And Its Dependencies

To uninstall xtail and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 9, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove xtail

Remove xtail Configurations and Data

To remove xtail configuration and data from Debian 9 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge xtail

Remove xtail configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove xtail configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge xtail

Dependencies

xtail have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install xtail package on Debian 9 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.