54 GB in /var/log!!

[Simon Andrews]

Beartooth wrote:
> 	One of my F9 machines -- actually my #1 main machine -- started 
> having display problems. I see this a lot, because my hardware isn't 
> really up to date enough to handle my monitor optimally. So I tried a 
> couple of tricks that usually help, and they didn't.
> 
> 	Then I thought to run baobab. Lo and behold, I was running out of 
> space -- because /var/log shows up consuming 54 GB of space! Yes, fifty-
> four gigs.
> 
> What could be causing this, and what do i do about it?? 

Probably something's gone wrong and is logging the same message over and 
over again.

Quick way to find it:

cd /var/log

ls -ltrh

This list all files with the newest file last (your log file was 
probably the last thing written), and with human readable file sizes. 
You'll probably see one enormous file.  If you don't see it then try the 
same thing down a directory level

ls -ltrh */*

Once you've found the offending file do tail -500 [whatever file name] 
to see the last messages written to it, it's probably going to be the 
same thing over and over again.

Once you know what the message is you can look to fixing it.  You can 
also delete the offending file so your machine can start working again.

Hope this helps

Simon.