Hello all,

though I have to admit that I'm a newbie to Ruby I'll try to devise my
questions intelligently ;-)

I'd like to parse an Apache logfile at regular intervals, say every 15
minutes. If that part of the logfile that has been added since the last
parsing contains a certain String, let's say "blueice", I'd like to be
sent an e-mail.

This is my first real Ruby experience, but I thought I should rather
start with something practical instead of something academic.

How do I realize the regular-interval-parsing? How can my application
keep in mind what part of the logfile has already been parsed and which
part is new? How am I able to send an e-mail using Ruby?

Any hints in any form are greatly appreciated!

Regards
Markus