Hello, On Linux, when inotify is used, tail -f file follows a file only until it's renamed. After it is renamed, the inotify watch is removed, which means tail sits there doing nothing and any further modifications to the file are ignored. To reproduce: echo 1 > file tail -f file & exec 3>> file echo 2 >&3 sleep 1 mv file file2 sleep 1 echo 3 >&3 sleep 1 : > file2 "3" is not displayed. No message about the file being truncated either. Work arounds: tail ---disable-inotify -f file tail -f < file # effectively disables inotify or rename the file with a link() followed by an unlink() ln file newfile && rm -f file Note that the IN_DELETED_SELF event is not reached in follow-descriptor mode because tail has the file open preventing it from being deleted even after it's unlinked from the last directory. Path attached (on the current git head). I don't think IN_DELETED_SELF is useful in follow-name mode either, but I've not removed it. -- Stephane