select can be used to check if a handle is ready to be read (but it doesn't work for pipes in Windows). Only call <TAIL> if select indicates data is waiting to be read.

As an aside, I don't see the reason to fork off tail instead of opening the log file in perl.

In reply to Re: Piping Tail and while loops by ikegami
in thread Piping Tail and while loops by matt.schnarr

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