[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 324 (process module)

[Guido van Rossum]

> Doesn't select() effectively busy-wait on "real" files (pipes and file
> descriptors obtained via open(), as opposed to network sockets) on most
> (all?) UNIXen?  At least this has been my finding under Linux.

select() doesn't make sense for regular files, so tail -f can't use
it.  For Unix pipes, it works as advertised.  On Windows, it *only*
applies to sockets.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)