[Freeipa-devel] [PATCH 0434] log: add timestamp to filename of logs

[Rob Crittenden]

Jan Cholasta wrote:
> On 11.3.2016 15:56, Gabe Alford wrote:
>> On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 7:35 AM, Petr Vobornik <pvoborni at redhat.com
>> <mailto:pvoborni at redhat.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     On 03/11/2016 03:00 PM, Rob Crittenden wrote:
>>
>>         Martin Kosek wrote:
>>
>>             On 03/11/2016 09:55 AM, Jan Cholasta wrote:
>>
>>                 On 11.3.2016 09:33, Martin Kosek wrote:
>>
>>                     On 03/08/2016 07:07 PM, Martin Basti wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>                         On 08.03.2016 16:37, Martin Basti wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>                             On 08.03.2016 16:31, Martin Basti wrote:
>>
>>                                
>> https://fedorahosted.org/freeipa/ticket/4501
>>
>>                                 Patch attached.
>>
>>
>>                             Rebased patch attached.
>>
>>
>>
>>                         self-NACK
>>
>>                         Scripts print to CLI unformatted strings, it
>>                         should not be so easy.
>>                         See /var/log/ipaupgrade-{timestamp}.log for more
>>                         information
>>
>>
>>                     second-NACK. We cannot break existing log file
>>                     paths. The paths are mentioned
>>                     in a documentation and there may be also automation
>>                     around that (gathering log
>>                     files). So there should be always symlink from the
>>                     well known location to the
>>                     newest timestampe'd log.
>>
>>
>>                 Sorry, but this is absurd. What's the point of
>>                 maintaining backward
>>                 compatibility with obsolete documentation? Following
>>                 this logic, we would not
>>                 be able to change anything ever. What we should actually
>>                 do is update the
>>                 documentation. Ditto for automation.
>>
>>
>>             +1 for updating the automation and documentation. But some
>>             backward
>>             compatibility will need to be retained, at least for the
>>             stable systems like
>>             RHEL where *other* people may have some automation or
>>             documentation around it,
>>             not just us.
>>
>>
>>         Or you could just also create a symlink to the old name and it
>> will
>>         always just work.
>>
>>         rob
>>
>>
>>     Aren't the symlinks what Martin2 mentioned in second-NACK?
>>
>>     These new timestamped logs should be combined with the Gabe's
>>     patches: #5728 (renamed to command name) and #5724 (move to
>>     /var/log/ipa directory).
>>
>>     So that there will be e.g.:
>>     /var/log/ipaserver-install.log ->
>>     /var/log/ipa-server-install-{timestamp}.log
>>
>>     /var/log/ipa/ipa-server-install.log ->
>>     /var/log/ipa-server-install-{timestamp}.log
>>
>>
>> I wonder if it would be simpler/better to always write to the *.log
>> file, and then have old logs timestamped rather than write directly to a
>> timestamped log file?
>> Then just symlink the original log file in /var/log/ to the new log file
>> name/location in /var/log/ipa.
>>
>> For example:
>> /var/log/ipaserver-install.log ->
>> /var/log/ipa/ipa-server-install.log                <-- We write to this
>> log (current)
>>
>> /var/log/ipa-server-install-{timestamp}.log   <-- Old log with some date
>>
>> /var/log/ipa-server-install-{timestamp}.log   <-- Older log with some
>> date
>>
>> /var/log/ipa-server-install-{timestamp}.log   <-- Oldest log with some
>> date
> 
> This is way too overengineered for something that should actually be
> really simple. I don't care if it is done this way or not, but IMHO it
> would be a waste of time. Logs are not API and should not be treated as
> such. If it needs to be done differently on RHEL, it should be handled
> downstream.

Sure logs are not API but they have been named the same way since
inception (nearly 8 years now). I don't think symlinking to the old
names is a big deal.

rob