Is there any way to log startup messages without making stdout >> file ?

harryhaller · 05-07-2008, 06:29 AM

This is an old problem: not all messages by any means are logged to /var/log - they just appear on the console.

Before going through all the rc.x scripts and changing each command to ">> log-file 2>&1" , I was wondering if anyone had a better idea.

As we all know, the messages on the console disappear as soon one switches to another console or logs in on the startup console.

Simon Bridge · 05-07-2008, 06:40 AM

Sure, you can output all messages to a remote tty.

bgeddy · 05-07-2008, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Before going through all the rc.x scripts and changing each command to ">> log-file &2>&1" , I was wondering if anyone had a better idea.

Shouldn't that be "2>&1" ?

Must admit I've done this to the rc.inet1 scripts, sticking "set -x" all over the place to fix my wireless problems.

harryhaller · 05-07-2008, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Shouldn't that be "2>&1" ?

Most definitely. Sorry for the typo - has been corrected.

There is a command called tee which outputs stdin to file and stdout.

Unfortunately if the script is testing for a return code - tee will interfere - the return code will be that of tee and not the command - so I have read.

In any case it still means changing all the rc. scripts.

j_kubik · 06-11-2011, 12:19 PM

This thread is a bit old, but i hope somebody will still find it useful

I am currently experimenting with changing inittab entriels from

Code:

si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 6

to something like

Code:

si::sysinit:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc sysinit 2>&1 > /var/log/init.log"

l0:0:wait:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 0 >> /var/log/init.log 2>&1"
l1:1:wait:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 1 >> /var/log/init.log 2>&1"
l2:2:wait:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 2 >> /var/log/init.log 2>&1"
l3:3:wait:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 3 >> /var/log/init.log 2>&1"
l4:4:wait:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 4 >> /var/log/init.log 2>&1"
l5:5:wait:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 5 >> /var/log/init.log 2>&1"
l6:6:wait:/bin/bash -c "/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc 6 >> /var/log/init.log 2>&1"

This should redirecto output to a file - but you will lose it from your screen, so if you also want to keep it there you can use tee instead. Generated log file contains some terminal control codes in my case, so best way to read it is just to cat it to terminal - this way colors are preserved

Remember also to make sure that your main filesystem is writable from the start of the init - i changed my grub kernel option from ro to rw - it is genrally not a good idea to keep it that way, so after you check your log file you should change it back to ro.

harryhaller · 06-23-2011, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j_kubik

This thread is a bit old, but i hope somebody will still find it useful

Yes, it is definitely useful. Thanks.

The only blemish, as you point out, is that the file system has to be loaded as rw, rather than ro.

Ramurd · 06-24-2011, 02:25 AM

You may also want to check out /etc/syslog.conf ; read the fitting manual pages for them first: man syslogd and man syslog.conf

j_kubik · 06-24-2011, 02:04 PM

syslog is a nice thing to check out, but as I noticed, logging application must be written to specifically log using syslogd. Many init scripts just print messages via standard output, which goes only to terminal. I guess that was the original question that started this thread.

harryhaller · 06-25-2011, 07:32 PM

Well, it is an old thread, but I've "more or less" solved it by putting /sbin/logd at the beginning of /etc/rc.d/rc.S.

http://linux.die.net/man/8/logd