Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
> From owner-freebsd-questi...@freebsd.org Thu Jan 13 23:28:08 2011
> From: Carl Johnson
> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
> Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:21:40 -0800
> Subject: Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
>
> Polytropon writes:
>
> > On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:11:03 -0600, Adam Vande More
> > wrote:
> >> Amusing, but you're the one full of shit. There's more things to
> >> automatic log file creation than are thought of in your imagination.
> >
> > Adam,
> >
> > I think Robert is right at least in regards of SOME programs that use
> > syslogd for logging OR do the logging stuff on their own.
>
> I think that newsyslog will create the new log files if specified in the
> /etc/newsyslog.conf file. That might be the confusion about some log
> files being created automatically but others not. The newsyslog.conf(5)
> manpage mentions a 'C' flag that can be specified.
BINGO!
Furthermore 'newsyslog' is *NOT* part of the Unix 'standard'. You _cannot_
count on it being present on every/all Unix system.
Newsyslog is also -not- a 'logging service'. 'syslogd' is the logging
service, and syslogd does -not- create any files mentioned in its .conf
file.
Newsyslog, itself, doesn't even consult the syslog.conf file. It operates
entirely independantly o , and _tolally_ignorantly_ of, what syslogd does.
_IF_ 'newsyslog' exists,
and is configured to run at system start-up,
=and= the logfile in question is also configured in the newsyslog.conf file,
*AND* that logfile entry has the 'C' {create if missing} flag set,
_THEN_AND_ONLY_THEN_ will the file get created when the system transitions
into multi-user mode.
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Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
Polytropon writes: > On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:11:03 -0600, Adam Vande More > wrote: >> Amusing, but you're the one full of shit. There's more things to automatic >> log file creation than are thought of in your imagination. > > Adam, > > I think Robert is right at least in regards of SOME > programs that use syslogd for logging OR do the > logging stuff on their own. I think that newsyslog will create the new log files if specified in the /etc/newsyslog.conf file. That might be the confusion about some log files being created automatically but others not. The newsyslog.conf(5) manpage mentions a 'C' flag that can be specified. -- Carl Johnsonca...@peak.org ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:11:03 -0600, Adam Vande More wrote: > Amusing, but you're the one full of shit. There's more things to automatic > log file creation than are thought of in your imagination. Adam, I think Robert is right at least in regards of SOME programs that use syslogd for logging OR do the logging stuff on their own. I may mantion ftpd logging as an example. Many years ago, I have learned that setting ftp (...stuff...) ftpd -ll in /etc/inetd.conf (the "ell ell" is important) and adding !ftpd *.* /var/log/ftpd.log to /etc/syslog.conf would cause ftpd to do extended logging. You can imagine how surprised I was that there was no log file at all. I had to manually # touch /var/log/ftpd.log in order to enable the logging mechanism. Simply deleting the file won't cause ftpd to create it on its own, and syslod also doesn't create it, if I remember correctly. It's also worth mentioning that programs that handle logging on their own may be brought into trouble if the logfile suddenly disappears, depending on the access mechanism for that file, either by "open/append, write, close" or by "don't close, keep writing". That being said, I think one can recommend resetting or clearing methods for all logs not depending on deleting and (maybe) re-creating the files. Instead setting them to zero length should not harm syslogd or any other process that logs to files. The methods of "echo '' > $file" or even the more verbose "cat /dev/zero > $file" have been mentioned on list, with $file being a shell wildcard expression or `find ...` for better control about what to work with. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ... ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Robert Bonomi wrote: > > I *did* read what you said. > > To be blunt, you are full of sh*t as regards any file used by the standard > Berkeley syslog daemon, (syslogd). The Berkeley syslogd is the standard > system log daemon on FreeBSD, although somme people do replace it with > Amusing, but you're the one full of shit. There's more things to automatic log file creation than are thought of in your imagination. I like the 25 years, should we compare cock sizes too? Quit being a baby and realize the man page for syslogd isn't the only thing involved here. -- Adam Vande More ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
> Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:31:21 -0600 > Subject: Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs? > To: questi...@freebsd.org > > On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 6:28 PM, Robert Bonomi > wrote: > > > > From: Adam Vande More > > > > > > Please don't top post. > > > > > > do something like this: > > > > > > shutdown now rm /var/log/* exit > > > > > > upon reentering multiuser mode, each logging service will create it's > > > new file. > > > > FALSE TO FACT, with regard to any/all files that syslogd(8) uses, > > _unless_ syslogd is invoked with the '-C' option. > > > > Quoting from the manpage: > >"For security reasons, syslogd will not append to log files that do > > not exist (unless -C option is specified); therefore, they must be > > created manually before running syslogd." > > > > Wrong, read what I said again. I *did* read what you said. To be blunt, you are full of sh*t as regards any file used by the standard Berkeley syslog daemon, (syslogd). The Berkeley syslogd is the standard system log daemon on FreeBSD, although somme people do replace it with > The appropriate service recreates the log > file. _IF_ a service, e.g, apache logs _directly_ to it's own logfiles, this _may_ be true It is explicitly *NOT*TRUE* for log files used by the standard (Berkeley-based) syslogd daemon. The FreeBSD manpage for syslogd, quoted above, confirms that you do -not- know what you're talking about. >Any basic system log would be covered by this. "Male Bovine Excretement" applies. >Try it and see. I've got over 25 years experience as a professional system/network admin, all on BSD-derived systems. I can't tell you _how_many_ times I've been called in to fix a 'failure to log' problem that was due to the logfile simply -not- being present, even afer a reboot. Now I'm not infallable, so I cheked the reference documentation _before_ posting, The standard FreeBSD syslogd is -documented- as _NOT_CREATING_ the logfiles it uses, *UNLESS* the '-C' option is specified upon program invocation. Since a logging service cannot tell whether the system is in single-user or multi-user mode, you can verify this syslogd behaviour by simply deleting one of the common log files -- say /var/log/messages -- then killing the running syslogd, and re-starting it. As you say "Try it and see". -- Those of you who think you know it all are very annoying to those of us who do. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 6:28 PM, Robert Bonomi wrote: > > From: Adam Vande More > > > > Please don't top post. > > > > do something like this: > > > > shutdown now rm /var/log/* exit > > > > upon reentering multiuser mode, each logging service will create it's new > > file. > > FALSE TO FACT, with regard to any/all files that syslogd(8) uses, > _unless_ syslogd is invoked with the '-C' option. > > Quoting from the manpage: >"For security reasons, syslogd will not append to log files that do not > exist (unless -C option is specified); therefore, they must be created > manually before running syslogd." > Wrong, read what I said again. The appropriate service recreates the log file. Any basic system log would be covered by this. Try it and see. -- Adam Vande More ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
> From owner-freebsd-questi...@freebsd.org Thu Jan 13 01:26:33 2011 > Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:20:14 -0600 > From: Adam Vande More > To: Redd Vinylene > Cc: questions , Bernt Hansson > Subject: Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs? > > On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 1:50 PM, Redd Vinylene > wrote: > > > Will the logs automatically create themselves? I mean, I picture I have > > to manually touch a lotta them in order to avoid "cannot find" error > > messages? > > > > Please don't top post. > > do something like this: > > shutdown now rm /var/log/* exit > > upon reentering multiuser mode, each logging service will create it's new > file. FALSE TO FACT, with regard to any/all files that syslogd(8) uses, _unless_ syslogd is invoked with the '-C' option. Quoting from the manpage: "For security reasons, syslogd will not append to log files that do not exist (unless -C option is specified); therefore, they must be created manually before running syslogd." >Typically if a service is running and you delete the log from it, > the service will not like it. You can HUP the service to have it restart > logging, but you'd have to do it manually for each log you deleted. > ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On 1/13/2011 2:56 PM, Robert Bonomi wrote: >> Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:58:04 +0100 >> From: Polytropon >> Subject: Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs? >> >> On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:50:04 +0100, Redd Vinylene >> wrote: >>> Will the logs automatically create themselves? >> >> Usually not, but it depends on the logging mechanism. If a program >> continuously re-opens the file (after closing it) in APPEND mode, it >> should be created if non-existent. But if the program keeps the file open >> and just writes to it, it can cause trouble. Good programs check the >> return code of the writing operation and signal an error. Bad programs >> don't do that, they just keep writing to nowhere. :-) > > _syslogd_ *explicitly* does -not- _create_ any log files. it is documented > in the manpages that it behaves that way. Whether or not this is a "good > idea" is debatable, but it does allow you to suppress some logging w/o having > to edit the syslog.conf file and/or re-start syslogd. > >>> I mean, I picture I have to manually touch a lotta them in order to >>> avoid "cannot find" error messages? > > Syslog does -not- give any such messages, it just doesn't write the message > anywere. It's worth noting that if you delete an open file, any programs with open write handles to the file can still write to it and thus chew up disk space. So ... you can't just reach in and delete log files unless you're sure nothing has them open. -- Tim Daneliuk tun...@tundraware.com ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
> Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:58:04 +0100 > From: Polytropon > Subject: Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs? > > On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:50:04 +0100, Redd Vinylene > wrote: > > Will the logs automatically create themselves? > > Usually not, but it depends on the logging mechanism. If a program > continuously re-opens the file (after closing it) in APPEND mode, it > should be created if non-existent. But if the program keeps the file open > and just writes to it, it can cause trouble. Good programs check the > return code of the writing operation and signal an error. Bad programs > don't do that, they just keep writing to nowhere. :-) _syslogd_ *explicitly* does -not- _create_ any log files. it is documented in the manpages that it behaves that way. Whether or not this is a "good idea" is debatable, but it does allow you to suppress some logging w/o having to edit the syslog.conf file and/or re-start syslogd. > > I mean, I picture I have to manually touch a lotta them in order to > > avoid "cannot find" error messages? Syslog does -not- give any such messages, it just doesn't write the message anywere. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 3:38 AM, David Demelier wrote: > But, there is sometime subdirectories in /var/log, it doesn't matter? And > truncate can write on archived files ? such as : > > markand@Melon ~ $ ls /var/log/messages*.bz2 > /var/log/messages.0.bz2 /var/log/messages.1.bz2 > logrotate is your friend. [root@blackdragon /usr/ports]# make search name=logrotate Port: logrotate-3.7.9 Path: /usr/ports/sysutils/logrotate Info: Daemon to rotate, compress, remove and mail system log files Maint: j...@iksz.hu B-deps: gettext-0.18.1.1 gmake-3.81_4 libiconv-1.13.1_1 popt-1.16 R-deps: gettext-0.18.1.1 libiconv-1.13.1_1 popt-1.16 WWW: [root@blackdragon /usr/ports]# hth/c- ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On 13/01/2011 03:23, Bob Hall wrote:
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 08:21:45PM +0100, Polytropon wrote:
On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:17:10 +0900, Ryuichiro Hara wrote:
Hello,
It might be all right to remove all "normal file" logs,
though you may want to retain all subdirectories.
find /var/log -type f -exec rm {} \;
may do.
Possible problem: Programs that log to files may be confused
that the file has disappeared. How about simply cutting the
files to zero length?
# cat /dev/null> /var/log/*
or # truncate -s 0 /var/log/*
That will save you two keystrokes, and that's important! ;-)
But, there is sometime subdirectories in /var/log, it doesn't matter?
And truncate can write on archived files ? such as :
markand@Melon ~ $ ls /var/log/messages*.bz2
/var/log/messages.0.bz2 /var/log/messages.1.bz2
Cheers,
--
David Demelier
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Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 1:50 PM, Redd Vinylene wrote: > Will the logs automatically create themselves? I mean, I picture I have to > manually touch a lotta them in order to avoid "cannot find" error messages? > Please don't top post. do something like this: shutdown now rm /var/log/* exit upon reentering multiuser mode, each logging service will create it's new file. Typically if a service is running and you delete the log from it, the service will not like it. You can HUP the service to have it restart logging, but you'd have to do it manually for each log you deleted. -- Adam Vande More ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
> From owner-freebsd-questi...@freebsd.org Wed Jan 12 10:09:51 2011 > Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:04:26 +0100 > From: Redd Vinylene > To: questions > Cc: > Subject: Simple command to reset / clear all logs? > > Hi, > > Is there a simple command to reset / clear everything in my /var/log? I've > done a lot of testing, configuring, trial and error and most of my logs are > just full of bullshit and I'd like a fresh start :-) something like: foreach file in (/var/log/*log) echo "" > $file end maybe ? ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 08:21:45PM +0100, Polytropon wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:17:10 +0900, Ryuichiro Hara wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > It might be all right to remove all "normal file" logs,
> > though you may want to retain all subdirectories.
> >
> > find /var/log -type f -exec rm {} \;
> >
> > may do.
>
> Possible problem: Programs that log to files may be confused
> that the file has disappeared. How about simply cutting the
> files to zero length?
>
> # cat /dev/null > /var/log/*
or # truncate -s 0 /var/log/*
That will save you two keystrokes, and that's important! ;-)
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Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 8:58 PM, Polytropon wrote:
> # for FILE in /var/log/*; do cat /dev/null > ${FILE}; done
>
> That would be better than my first suggestion. You can exchange
> the part "/var/log/*" for any `find ...` command that specifies
> the intended target(s) of your operation better than the builtin
> shell expansion of the * expression.
>
>
Now that's just beautiful, man :-)
Thanks a lot :-)
Please accept this gift
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:50:04 +0100, Redd Vinylene
wrote:
> Will the logs automatically create themselves?
Usually not, but it depends on the logging mechanism. If a
program continuously re-opens the file (after closing it)
in APPEND mode, it should be created if non-existent. But
if the program keeps the file open and just writes to it,
it can cause trouble. Good programs check the return code
of the writing operation and signal an error. Bad programs
don't do that, they just keep writing to nowhere. :-)
> I mean, I picture I have to
> manually touch a lotta them in order to avoid "cannot find" error messages?
This should be the safest method for most purposes. But as
I mentioned, just trim down the files to zero length, so they
keep present, and all writing processes (re-opening APPEND or
contunuously keep writing) shouldn't notice that.
# for FILE in /var/log/*; do cat /dev/null > ${FILE}; done
That would be better than my first suggestion. You can exchange
the part "/var/log/*" for any `find ...` command that specifies
the intended target(s) of your operation better than the builtin
shell expansion of the * expression.
--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
Will the logs automatically create themselves? I mean, I picture I have to manually touch a lotta them in order to avoid "cannot find" error messages? On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 8:19 PM, Bernt Hansson wrote: > 2011-01-12 17:04, Redd Vinylene: > > Hi, >> >> Is there a simple command to reset / clear everything in my /var/log? I've >> done a lot of testing, configuring, trial and error and most of my logs >> are >> just full of bullshit and I'd like a fresh start :-) >> >> Thanks! >> > > Sometimes I use rm /var/log/* > > Use with utmost caution! > -- http://www.home.no/reddvinylene ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
2011-01-12 17:04, Redd Vinylene: Hi, Is there a simple command to reset / clear everything in my /var/log? I've done a lot of testing, configuring, trial and error and most of my logs are just full of bullshit and I'd like a fresh start :-) Thanks! Sometimes I use rm /var/log/* Use with utmost caution! ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:17:10 +0900, Ryuichiro Hara wrote:
> Hello,
>
> It might be all right to remove all "normal file" logs,
> though you may want to retain all subdirectories.
>
> find /var/log -type f -exec rm {} \;
>
> may do.
Possible problem: Programs that log to files may be confused
that the file has disappeared. How about simply cutting the
files to zero length?
# cat /dev/null > /var/log/*
This will affect ALL files (expansion of *) which may not
be precise enough in case you want to keep some of the
log files.
--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
newsyslog -F ? On 1/12/2011 11:04 AM, Redd Vinylene wrote: Hi, Is there a simple command to reset / clear everything in my /var/log? I've done a lot of testing, configuring, trial and error and most of my logs are just full of bullshit and I'd like a fresh start :-) Thanks! ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org" ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
Re: Simple command to reset / clear all logs?
Hello,
It might be all right to remove all "normal file" logs,
though you may want to retain all subdirectories.
find /var/log -type f -exec rm {} \;
may do.
# sorry. I wouldn't do that rough and not tested.
# Basically, those are just incremental logs, whose
# lines are mostly not referred by running system.
(2011/01/13 01:04), Redd Vinylene wrote:
Hi,
Is there a simple command to reset / clear everything in my /var/log? I've
done a lot of testing, configuring, trial and error and most of my logs are
just full of bullshit and I'd like a fresh start :-)
Thanks!
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