Subject: location of logs

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 92 07:14:37 GMT

I note with concern a reference to various logs going in
/usr/spool.
 
The task of making Linux better requires a balance between
avoiding too much peculiarity (making Linux more 'standard')
and pursuing simplicity (helping idiots set up and use Linux).
 
One of the most irritating tasks I have as a sysadmin is cleaning
out thousands of log files.  On my systems there are logs in
/etc, in /usr/adm, in /usr/etc, in /usr/spool, and in literally
thousands of user directories (x/motif session error logs).
Preventing this rubbish from piling up is a major nuisance.
One advantage of having /var is to get all the stuff in one place.
Another is to put all the growing files on one partition, where it
can cause less havoc in the file system when it gets full.  This
makes administering the system simpler.  If conformity is threatened,
we can always make /etc/wtmp, /usr/adm/syslog, /usr/spool/lp/log,
etc, be symbolic links to files in /var.  That way security can be
checked, and then all logs deleted, e.g., by
 
     find /var -type f -exec rm {} \;
 
which could be put in a script for the non-Unix literate.
 
     A. V. Le Blanc
     [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Mike Murphy)
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 92 12:44:02 PST

>I note with concern a reference to various logs going in
	 
The nit I was picking was the the log files that end up
in /usr/lib, which I think should be a pretty static kind
of place. Better to have the log files for cron show up in
/usr/spool/cron rather than in /usr/lib/cron. Also better
to have the configuration for cron in /usr/lib/cron rather
than in /usr/spool/cron. That was my point. WRT to logfiles
being strewn throughout a directory heirarchy, I agree that
it's a pain to administer. Log trimming is a chore no matter
how it's to be done. Symbolic links could make things easier.
The above is opinion to be taken with more than one grain
of salt...
--
Mike Murphy  [email-masked]  ucsd!optigfx!mrm    +1 619 292 6060 x 265
Optigraphics Corporation  9339 Carroll Park Drive  San Diego, CA  92121
The opinion(s) expressed above are  mine  and not those of my employer.