54 GB in /var/log!! -- UPDATE

[Björn Persson]

Beartooth wrote:
> 	The KVM switch is a MiniView G-CSIO4U, a 4-port USB switch with
> two extra USB ports in back, into which the manufacturer says you can
> connect any two peripherals you want to share among your machines.
>
> 	The printer (an HP PSC 1315v, also USB)) has been in one of those
> ports for an age. My external DVD RW drive gets plugged into and out of
> the other port all the time; but the printer stays on the same
> connection. (The keyboard, mouse (which is indeed an hp), and monitor all
> get shifted to one individual machine when I do an install or upgrade (so
> that the monitor and PC can negotiate settings), and otherwise stay on
> the switch.

Switching the KVM switch is equivalent to unplugging all the devices from one 
computer and plugging them into another. Linux will print some messages every 
time you plug in or remove a USB device, but you'd have to be switching like 
crazy to produce 54 GB of messages that way. I suppose a loose cable might 
make it seem like all the devices are constantly plugged in and removed, but 
I still don't quite see how the log could grow that big. The excerpt you 
posted was 3411 characters. Printing all of that once a second for a week 
would still produce only two gigabytes.

> 	Marginal note : I've noticed that, if I hit the KVM switch's
> button while one PC is printing, the printer stops till I come back to
> that machine.

Of course. Cups has to stop printing when you essentially unplug the printer, 
and then it continues when you plug the printer in again.

> 	Finally, an hour or so ago, I tried turning the printer off with
> its power switch. Since that time, the messages have become fewer, but
> not stopped.

I'd imagine that the messages about the printer have stopped, and the ones 
about the keyboard, the mouse and the hub continue. (There's a USB hub inside 
the KVM switch.) Every time you switch to another machine to look for new 
messages, you cause more messages.

Those messages aren't errors and you don't need to worry about them as long as 
the log doesn't grow out of control again. It's quite possible that most of 
those 54 GB was something completely different that hasn't resurfaced yet. 
I'd recommend doing "ls -l /var/log/messages*" now and then to keep an eye on 
it, and investigate further if it grows to many megabytes.

Björn Persson
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