Linux non-blocking fifo (on demand logging)

Question

I like to log a programs output \'on demand\'. Eg. the output is logged to the terminal, but another process can hook on the current output at any time.

The classic

Answer 1

The logging could be directed to a UDP socket. Since UDP is connection-less, it won't block the sending program. Of course logs will be lost if the receiver or network can't keep up.

myprogram 2>&1 | socat - udp-datagram:localhost:3333

Then when you want to observe the logging:

socat udp-recv:3333 -

There are some other cool benefits like being able to attach multiple listeners at the same time or broadcast to multiple devices.