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current version: 1.6.0
- Is the Xlogmaster still being developed?
- What is the Xlogmaster ?
- What's new in the current release ?
- Supported Platforms
- Obtaining the Xlogmaster
- Getting Help with the Xlogmaster
- Further Information & Links:
In short: no. The Xlogmaster project reached its design limitations
and there was demand for a much more flexible and general
solution. This required a complete rewrite - and calling the result of
it "Xlogmaster" would have been misleading at best.
The successor is called GNU
AWACS, the Advanced Monitoring And Control Structure.
Currently GNU AWACS is in its alpha stage, so normal
users should stick to the Xlogmaster. In the end GNU AWACS will
contain a client called Xlogmaster, though - and then
you really want to use it instead of this standalone Xlogmaster
project.
If you are in a hurry, here is the ultra-short version:
The Xlogmaster is a program that lets you monitor everything that's going on
on your system in a very quick and comfortable way. It allows reading logfiles,
devices or running status-gathering programs, translating all data (if wished)
and displaying it with filters for highlithing / lowlighting / hiding lines or taking
actions upon user-defined events.
For those who'd like to know more, here is an introduction into the features:
Based on the standard UN*X commands that perform similar tasks the modes are called
- TAIL-Mode:
The Xlogmaster will read the file and then check back in
regular intervals (default: 0.3 seconds) whether anything has changed -
practically the same functionality you got with "tail -f" but just much
nicer to handle and look at. If you monitor more than two logfiles it makes
things much easier already.
- CAT-Mode:
This mode keeps on "catting" the file/device you have
given it in user defined intervals. The first thing that will probably come
to your mind now is: "Cool ! I can keep track of all the /proc devices that
are of interest for me." (didn't it ? :-) ) Whatever - I really like this mode.
and
- RUN-Mode:
The run mode allows starting a program and retrieving it's stdout. This allows you
to write a shellscript/program to gather any data that's important for you and
monitor the output in the Xlogmaster - with all the features the Xlogmaster has.
The retrieved information may then be piped through a plugin - the plugins
take the data on stdin and output it to stdout which is being read by the Xlogmaster
again. This enables you to translate cryptic logfiles or extracting information in
a special way.
After reading the data from the TAIL/CAT/RUN modes (and piping it through the plugin
if wished) it can then be processed in certain ways. The
obvious one is displaying it in the text window. To make this more comfortable you can
define filters that allow you to raise, lower or hide lines on a extended REGEX
match.
Since version 1.3.0 the Xlogmaster supports background monitoring, as well -
you can define
filters that trigger certain actions based on a case-insensitive substring match.
The entry does not need to be active for that.
I invented a classification for these filters to make clear
they work on different levels. The Class0 filters
are filters that are applied at display-time and the
Class1 filters are used in the background.
Implemented filters are:
All matches are extended REGEX matches. See GNU REGEX manual for reference.
- CLASS0: only one of the Class0 filters can be applied on a line. Usually the first applicable match is
being taken. The only exception is "Hide" - if it can be applied the line will be hidden even if it also matches
another Class0 filter.
- Raise: a line is being highlighted on a match
- Lower: a line is being lowlighted on a match
- Hide: a line is being hidden on a match
- CLASS1: all of the Class1 filters than can be applied are being applied so theoretically a single
line can trigger all filters and maybe even several times. All Class1 filters also trigger a user chosen
sound when being triggered so the user also gets an audio-warning.
- Alert: the button for the logfile flashes up in a user-defined color (default is red) and slowly
fades back to it's normal color within a given timespan. The idea is that occurences that are only of interest
for a certain timespan don't trigger the buttons to be all red if you leave the keyboard for a few hours.
- Notice: a notice box will pop up at the current mouse position showing you the name of the
entry and the line that triggered the alarm together with the date the notice has been triggered. The notice box
contains a list so nothing will get lost. The box will be cleared and disappear if you click on the "dismiss" button
- but only then, so events that were very important will always be brought to your notice even if you have
been afk for days.
- Uniconify: the Xlogmaster will uniconify automatically if this event is being triggered. Useful for
people with limited desktop space who prefer to keep the Xlogmaster iconified.
- Execute: a user-given program is being executed on a match. Some useful default scripts are
contained in the distribution but you can easily write your own ones, as well. For this purpose the Xlogmaster
supplies some variables (name of entry, helptext for entry, line that triggered execution, absolute path to file/device, mode of entry (TAIL/CAT)).
Since there are a lot of changes usually only the most important ones are being
listed here.
Stable tree 1.6.x:
- New mode: RUN
- Plugin support
- GTK+ 1.2.x compliant
- Complete "Customize" menu rewrite
- Execution now allows pipes
- Keyboard accelerators
- support for a system wide entry database
- support for personal entry database
- the Xlogmaster now catches logfile rotation
Stable tree 1.4.x:
- most important: The Xlogmaster is now a GNU program (surprise, surprise)
- introduction of background monitoring / Class1 filters (see above)
- better menu handling
- audio support
- locking in memory possible
- for 1.4.1 no user visible changes
- usage of getopt_long replaced by own function because getopt_long doesn't exist on some platforms.
- usage of setenv replaced by own function calling putenv because setenv doesn't exist on some platforms.
- replaced one variable name because it is a symbol in libc5.
- forced usage of GTK+ 1.0.5 because the previous versions had a memory leak in the GtkText widget.
- for 1.4.2
- the button of the active entry stays in PRELIGHT color
- The Xlogmaster now uses real REGEX patterns
- The buttons can be hidden/shown now via middle mouse button
- for 1.4.4
- nicer installation on problematic systems
First of all: You will definitely need the
GTK+ toolkit version 1.2.x if you didn't install
it already.
Apart from that there is no reason why it shouldn't work on all UN*X systems. Until
now I did not receive any mail telling me that the Xlogmaster did not install fine.
The following list shows all systems I have positive knowledge about from users
who told me they got the Xlogmaster running without major problems. If your system
is not on the list and you are successful with the installation I'd like you
to send a short mail to
xlogmaster-bugs@gnu.org
so I can include your system in this list.
- AIX 4.1.5
- Digital UNIX 3.2c
- FreeBSD
- GNU/Linux
- HP-UX
- Irix5.3 (MIPS R4000)
- Irix 6.2 (MIPS R5000)
- Solaris
- SunOS 4.1.1
- x86 BSDI 3.0
- ... ?
For some systems people already configured the Xlogmaster package to fit
the system/distribution best. If you are running one of those systems you might
consider installing the ported version instead of the original one because it will probably
be even easier to install and will cause the Xlogmaster to be installed "the standard way"
for your system without you having to worry about it. Ports exist for the following systems:
If you happen to maintain a port for a system not on this list you can send me a mail with
the HTML address (text preferred but I can include FTP addresses in case there is nothing
else available) to
xlogmaster-bugs@gnu.org
and I will include it here.
You can download the Xlogmaster from the gnu.org FTP site at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ or one of it's mirrors.
Additionally you should be able to find it on ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/gnu/ or one of it's mirrors.
If everything fails there are still my private Xlogmaster pages at http://www.fusebox.hanse.de/xlogmaster/ or http://porter.desy.de/~greve/xlogmaster/.
For "still hot and steaming" development versions fresh out of the running development you might want to
check out the development page.
If you would like to know whether someone already configured the package to fit your
system best you should take a look at the Existing Ports list.
Also see the software
page for information on obtaining The Xlogmaster and other GNU software.
If you have a question about the Xlogmaster in general, about help for including it in
some project or distribution you can send a mail to xlogmaster-bugs@gnu.org.
If the question has been answered in the tutorial, the manpage or on this
page, though, the answer
will most probably contain several R's, T's, F's and M's.
Information on getting help with GNU software in general is available
at the Get Help with GNU Software page.
There are a few documents about the Xlogmaster:
The Tutorial and the FAQ are still far from being complete... I would rather see them as a
start. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
There are two mailing lists for the Xlogmaster you can subscribe to:
- help-xlogmaster@gnu.org: This list is for general discussion about the Xlogmaster
- everything that doesn't fit into the second list belongs in here.
Subscribe via mail to
help-xlogmaster-request@gnu.org
and just enter "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the body of the message
All postings go to help-xlogmaster@gnu.org
- beta-xlogmaster@gnu.org: This list is for the running development of the
Xlogmaster. If you are interested in the latest features, in getting mail about the brandnew
betatest versions or just in helping making the Xlogmaster more stable, this list is for you.
I actually encourage you to subscribe to this list because more betatesters make the next
full release more stable. If this sounds interesting you might also want to check out the
development page.
Subscribe via mail to
beta-xlogmaster-request@gnu.org
and just enter "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the body of the message
All postings go to beta-xlogmaster@gnu.org
All bug reports go to
xlogmaster-bugs@gnu.org
- the bug report should contain:
- The version of the Xlogmaster
- The version of GTK+
- Information about your system:
- Operating system and version
- Version of X
- Anything else you think might be relevant.
- How to reproduce the bug
- If the bug crashed the Xlogmaster or what message you got
- Further information you can supply
Here is some more information in case you still haven't had enough:
Since it would be rude and not in the GNU policy to crowd this page with screenshots,
you can go the separate screenshot
page where you will get several thumbnails you can click on to get the full picture.
Have a look at the current developments on my separate
development page. You will also find links
to download the latest beta-versions there.
Return to GNU's home page.
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to
gnu@gnu.org.
There are also other ways to
contact the FSF.
Please send comments on these web pages to
greve@gnu.org,
send other questions to
gnu@gnu.org.
Copyright (C) 1998,1999 Georg C. F. Greve -
The Xlogmaster is a GNU program
Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Updated:
Last modified: Thu Dec 16 19:52:31 CET 1999