--- a/pvl/syslog/args.py	Wed Jan 02 20:46:54 2013 +0200
+++ b/pvl/syslog/args.py	Thu Jan 03 00:38:26 2013 +0200
@@ -43,10 +43,17 @@
     if options.syslog_fifo :
         # read fifo
         source = fifo.Fifo(options.syslog_fifo)
+        poll = True
+
+    elif options.syslog_tail :
+        # tail file
+        source = tail.TailFile(options.syslog_file)
+        poll = options.syslog_tail # float
 
     elif options.syslog_file :
-        # tail file
-        source = tail.TailFile(options.syslog_file)
+        # read file
+        source = open(options.syslog_file)
+        poll = False
 
     elif optional :
         log.debug("No --syslog source given")
@@ -62,5 +69,7 @@
     )
 
     # build
-    return SyslogSource(source, parser)
+    return SyslogSource(source, parser,
+            poll    = poll
+    )