如何创建启动 Cygwin 并跟踪特定文件的桌面快捷方式？

Question

I would like to have a desktop shortcut open cygwin so that I can tail a log file.

Currently I perform the following steps manually:

1. Start cygwin
2. cd dev/server/logs
3. tail -f error.log

I would like to automate the three steps.

Answer 1

You could create a Windows shortcut to the following target...

C:\cygwin\bin\tail.exe -f "C:\Path\to\the\error.log"

...assuming that's where your tail executable is. Doing which tail in a Cygwin shell should confirm that.

That should run the binary in a cmd window. Do Ctrl-C to stop it.

EDIT: Oh, one thing I forgot... This might require "C:\cygwin\bin" in your PATH env variable.

Answer 2

Is there a specific reason to perform the tail operation from cygwin shell? If not, you can use the tail for windows and create a shortcut that will point to tail.exe -f error.log

If for some reason, you require cygwin shell, try Andy's approach, that should work for you.