Logging

Schneibster · 2008-12-23 04:59:39

OK, folks, this appears to be the weak point in Arch. About 75% of all problems I encounter when setting up Linux distros I generally solve by cranking logging. But I'm having a lot of trouble getting things to log for me.

For example, I'm getting an error during startup, but it's the last daemon I'm loading, and adding a read() at the end of rc.local isn't helping; the X login prompt (gdm) overwrites it. It's not in dmesg, either, nor in any other log in /var/logs, nor on any of the ttys. My only choice is to disable X login and use startx. I'm not very happy about that. You've got error messages printing on the screen that don't show up in a log. That's not good.

For another example, I fiddled with the setup for burning a CDROM, trying Nautilus' built-in burner, then going to gnomebaker, and never once did I get an error message that told me clearly and unequivocally what was going on; I got "I failed" from the Nautilus UI, and even "I failed because of a permission error" from the gnomebaker UI, but that's not just real frickin' useful when it DOESN'T TELL YOU WHAT FILE IT FAILED TO ACCESS. I fixed it by googling around and trying various things. This strikes me as rather hit-or-miss, where if I had a clear log of the error that was being generated, I'd know what the problem was and proceed to fix it efficiently.

I won't say that Arch is better or worse than other distros in this respect; but the idea of simplicity is extremely attractive, and a comprehensive set of instructions for cranking logging, and finding the logs, on most packages should be something you strive toward. I was surprised to find this on a distro that is so command-line oriented. It was not my expectation at all, since the entire point of using the command line is to get at the logs so instead of shooting in the dark, you find out what's going on and fix it without further ado.

So far it's the only irritating thing I've found in the distro. So good job, but here's how you can make it better. Just an old system admin's $0.02.

fukawi2 · 2008-12-23 05:08:56

Try uncommenting this line in /etc/syslog-ng.conf

#log { source(src); filter(f_debug);    destination(debug); };

Allan · 2008-12-23 05:09:28

For the daemon, you can manually start it once you are logged in (/etc/rc.d/<daemon> start) and look at the error message.

For graphical programs, it helps to run them from the command line and look for interesting output.

Schneibster · 2008-12-27 19:19:39

fukawi2 wrote:

Try uncommenting this line in /etc/syslog-ng.conf
#log { source(src); filter(f_debug);    destination(debug); };

Yep, found that one, thanks. It helps, but I'm still finding all the bells and whistles.

I'm finding some of the logs I need in dot directories in my home folder.

string · 2008-12-27 21:01:58

Perhaps this would be a good time to configure /etc/syslog-ng.conf ?

Arch Linux

#1 2008-12-23 04:59:39

Logging

#2 2008-12-23 05:08:56

Re: Logging

#3 2008-12-23 05:09:28

Re: Logging

#4 2008-12-27 19:19:39

Re: Logging

#5 2008-12-27 21:01:58

Re: Logging

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