logapp(1) logapp(1)
NAME
logapp - An application output supervisor.
SYNOPSIS
logapp [option]... application [--logapp_option]... [app.-argument]...
applicationsymlink [--logapp_option]... [application-argument]...
Instead of calling logapp directly you can also create a symlink with the name of the application pointing to logapp. Logapp will automati-
cally start the application the name points to. It will also work if the symlink name is prefixed with log.
DESCRIPTION
Logapp is a wrapper utility that helps supervise the execution of applications that produce heavy console output (e.g. make, CVS and Sub-
version). It does this by logging, trimming, and coloring each line of the output before displaying it. It can be called instead of the ex-
ecutable that should be monitored; it then starts the application and logs all of its console output to a file. The output shown in the
terminal is preprocessed, e.g. to limit the length of printed lines and to show the stderr output in a different color. It is also possible
to automatically highlight lines that match a certain regular expression. The output is therefore reduced to the necessary amount, and all
important lines are easy to identify.
OPTIONS
The options provided before the application argument are processed directly by logapp. Options provided after the application argument are
only parsed if they are prefixed with --logapp_ (long option names only) otherwise they are passed to the application. If logapp is called
via a symlink all unprefixed options are passed to the application.
Every application usually uses two independent output streams: stdout for normal output and stderr for errors and important messages. Both
of them are handled independently by logapp, therefore many options are available for both streams.
Bool options are accepting 1/0 and true/false as value. For long boolean options the value can be omitted, in that case it will be assumed
to be 'true'.
GENERAL OPTIONS
-?, --help
Show a short overview over all available options.
--version
Show version information.
--configfile=FILE
Use a specific configuration file instead of searching the configuration search paths.
--showconfig
Print the current configuration of logapp and exit before the application is executed. This can be used this to check if all config-
uration options are setup correctly if something doesn't work as expected.
--configsection=NAME
Enable a specific section in the configuration file. If this option is not provided the application name is used as default.
--disable
This disables logapp data handling completely. The application is still started, but logapp won't touch the data streams coming from
the application. Neither logging nor output formating is performed, only the execution time and the exit state tracked. This is use-
ful if logapp won't be able to deal with expected data correctly, for example when starting curses based applications. Have a look
at --disable_keywords to see how this option can be enabled automatically.
--disable_keywords=keywordlist
With this option a list of comma separated keywords can be provided which will cause the --disable to be enabled automatically if
found in the applications option list. This is useful if an application usually provides line-based output, but creates binary data
or uses a curses based frontend if called with a specific parameter. You can also use the --detectescape option for another way to
do this without disabling the logging functionality.
--detectescape=bool
This option can be used to switch escape-sequence detection on or off. With escape-sequence detection logapp will automatically en-
able char-based stream handling as soon as an escape-sequence is part of the specific stream. This behavior can be useful if you are
working with an application that is usually line-based, but starts other applications which may be using escape sequences to format
the screen. This option will prevent the terminal from being messed up in that case.
--dumbterm=bool
With this option set to true there will be no terminal output coloring for stdout and stderr. Normally this option is disabled and
logapp tries to detect "dumb" terminals itself.
--usepty=bool
This option is only available if logapp has been compiled with PTY support. If PTY support is enabled with this option set to true,
logapp will open a pseudo terminal for stdout. This helps wenn running logapp with applications that usually need a real terminal
for output. You can disable this option for most line based applications like make, CVS or Subversion. Other applications like tel-
net or picocom may produce strange results when used without PTY support.
--ptyremovecr=bool
This option is only available if logapp has been compiled with PTY support. When using a pseudo terminal for getting the application
output you will always get CR-LF line endings, which is usually not desired when working in UNIX environments. With this option en-
abled, logapp will automatically translate all CR-LF line endings in LF line endings. This option is enabled as default.
--stdout_blen=bytes
--stderr_blen=bytes
The line buffer size can be adjusted for stdout and stderr independently with this option. If the value is too small, lines will be
split up if the buffer is full. The default is 2048 byte which should be big enough for most applications.
--stdout_charbased=bool
--stderr_charbased=bool
If you want to use logapp with applications that do not produce line based output you can enable this options for stdout and stderr
independently. With this option enabled logapp won't expect complete lines and will handle data as it comes in. By default all sin-
gle data packets are written to a new line if this option is enabled, this can be changed with the --alignlog option. If the result
will be usable depends on what kind of data is generated by the application.
--extended-regexp=bool
If this option is enabled logapp will interpret provided regular expression patterns as extended regular expressions. The default is
to use basic regular expressions.
LOGGING OPTIONS
This section contains options that affect the logfile.
-l, --logfile=file
This option can be used to change the file that is used for storing the logged application data. If an empty string is provided,
logging is disabled and no logfile will be created. The default is that logapp creates a logfile called logapp.log in the current
directory.
-a, --appendlog=bool
This option specifies if the logfile will be truncated or if the data will be appended to an existing file on logapp startup.
--maxlogsize=kibyte
To limit the maximum size of the logfile you can set this option to a value between 10 and 4000000 kiBytes. The default is 0 which
disables the logfile size limit. There are different ways implemented how the logfile is limited. Have a look at the options --lo-
grename and --circularlog to learn more. The default way is that the extension .old is added to the logfile and a new logfile is
started.
--logrename=bool
This option specifies the behavior when a logfile is to be truncated. If --logrename is enabled the logfile is renamed. The new
filename will be the same as before with the extension defined with --oldlogext added. The default extension is .old. This option is
used together with the value of --appendlog and --maxlogsize
--circularlog=bool
If this option is enabled together with a logfile size limit set with --maxlogsize, the logfile will be used in a circular way. This
means if the maximum size is reached, the file pointer is set to the beginning of the file and the old content is overwritten from
the beginning. There are tags added to the logfile to help navigating in the file.
--oldlogext=extension
This defines the extion that is used when logapp is renaming a logfile. The --logrename option defines if logapp will rename the
file and the default extension is .old.
--locklogfile=bool
With this option active the logfile is locked in order to prevent it to be overwritten by another task. This is useful if otherwise
an unreadable mix up of different contents would be the result. Depending on the value of the --maxaltlogfiles option another log-
file is chosen with the same name and a number added. Logfile locking is activated by default.
--warnlogfilelock=bool
This options defines if there should be a warning printed to the console if the chosen logfile is already locked or in other means
not accessible. In this case there will be a message before the application is started and directly after its execution where the
name of the alternative logfile is mentioned. This option is enabled by default. Also have a look at the --printlogname where you
can define to always get the current logfile reported.
--printlogname=bool
This option defines if the name of the used logfile should be printed after the application has finished its execution. This option
is disabled by default. Also have a look at the --warnlogfilelock where you can enable/disable a warning if the logfile name is
changed because of a locked logfile.
--maxaltlogfiles=number
This options defines the maximum number that can be added to the logfile name, if the original file is not accessible. On logapp
startup it will be checked if the currently defined logfile is writeable, if this is not the case automatically a number is added to
the filename. If the alternative file is also not accessible this number is increased until a file is writable or the value of max-
altlogfiles is reached. In the latter case the application will exit with an error. If a value of 0 is used only the original log-
file name is tried. Also have a look at the --warnlogfilelock and --printlogname options to define if there should be messages about
the currently used logfile.
--alignlog=bool
This option is used together with --stdout_charbased and --stderr_charbased and defines if data packets are written to the logfile
as they come or if they are each written to a new line. The default is that each data packet is written to a new line, set this op-
tion to false to disable it.
--alignlinebreaks=bool
This option is used together with --stdout_charbased and --stderr_charbased and aligns the lines to the left in the logfile with re-
gard to prefix and timestamp. This option is enabled by default.
--jointimeout=time
This option is used together with --stdout_charbased and --stderr_charbased and defines a ms timeout for joining single packets to
one. This means if for example two chars get written within the timeout, they are treated as one packet. This is best used together
with --alignlog and --logtime. Use this option if the data packets have lost their coherency for some reason (e.g. if the data comes
through a serial line). This feature is disabled by default and can be enabled by setting time to a value bigger than 0 ms.
-t, --logtime=bool
This option can be enabled to add a ms timestamp to each line of the logfile. Normally the time since the application start is used,
but this can be changed with the --logreltime option.
--logreltime=bool
If this option is set this to true, the --logreltime option will use the relative time since the last line for the logged time-
stamps.
--logenv=bool
With this option set to true logapp will add a list of all active environment variables to the logfile. This option is disabled by
default.
-p, --stdout_lineprefix=prefix
-P, --stderr_lineprefix=prefix
To be able to distinguish stdout and stderr output in the logfile logapp can prefix each line with a string that indicates if the
line belongs to a specific data stream. Those strings can be changed with this option. The default is that stdout does not have a
prefix and stderr is prefixed with STDERR:.
CONSOLE OUTPUT OPTIONS
This section contains options that affect the visual output on the console.
--dumbterm=bool
This option disables output coloring. This is usually done automatically if a dumb terminal is detected.
-s, --print_summary=bool
If this option is set to true, then a short summary will be printed after the application has terminated. This option is disabled by
default.
-f, --stdout_fgcol=color
-F, --stderr_fgcol=color
This options define the foreground color for the specific data stream. The value can be one of the entries in the console color ta-
ble at the end of this section.
-b, --stdout_bold=bool
-B, --stderr_bold=bool
This options define if the font for the specific data stream should be printed bold.
-r, --stdout_regexp=regular expression
-R, --stderr_regexp=regular expression
The regular expression that can be defined with this option is applied to every line of the specific data stream. On a match the
background color changes to the value provided with the --stdout_regexp_bgcol respectively --stderr_regexp_bgcol option.
--stdout_regexp_bgcol=color
--stderr_regexp_bgcol=color
This options define the background color for the specific data stream for the case that the appropriate regular expression provided
with --stdout_regexp or --stderr_regexp matches. The value can be one of the entries in the console color table at the end of this
section.
-c, --stdout_clip=width
-C, --stderr_clip=width
This options define at which column the output should be clipped for the specific stream to reduce the amount of data written to the
console. If a value of -1 is provided clipping is disabled for the stream. A value of -2 sets the clipping to the current console
width. It is also possible to use disable and auto instead of the numeric values. The default is that stdout is limited to the con-
sole width and that clipping is deactivated for stderr.
Console color table
+---+-------------------+
|# | color |
+---+-------------------+
|-1 | (console) default |
+---+-------------------+
|0 | black |
+---+-------------------+
|1 | red |
+---+-------------------+
|2 | green |
+---+-------------------+
|3 | brown |
+---+-------------------+
|4 | blue |
+---+-------------------+
|5 | magenta |
+---+-------------------+
|6 | cyan |
+---+-------------------+
|7 | white |
+---+-------------------+
COMMAND EXECUTION OPTIONS
This section contains options that configure the execution of commands on regular expression matches.
--exitonexecfail=BOOL
This option defines if logapp should exit and end the wrapped application if the return value of an executed command indicates a
failure. As default this option is disabled and logapp ignores the return state of executed commands.
--preexec=command
The command that can be provided with this option is executed directly before the application is started. At this time the header is
already written to the logfile and can be parsed by the command.
--postexec=command
The command that can be provided with this option is executed directly after the application has exited. At this time the logfile is
already closed for writing so all application output and the footer are already included and can be processed by the command.
-e, --stdout_execregexp=regular expression
-E, --stderr_execregexp=regular expression
The regular expression that can be defined with this option is applied to every line of the specific data stream. On a match the
command provided with the --stdout_execcommand respectively --stderr_execcomand option is executed. An empty value for this option
disables the regular expression matching.
-x, --stdout_execcommand=command
-X, --stderr_execcommand=command
This option defines the command that is executed on a regular expression match. The regular expression can be defined separately for
the stdout and stderr stream with the --stdout_execregexp respectively --stderr_execregexp option.
REGULAR EXPRESSIONS
Regular expressions are patterns that describe strings. Logapp uses this patterns to execute actions based on strings found in the data
stream. The implementation is identical to the one that is used by grep.
Logapp understands the "basic" and "extended" syntax of regular expressions as defined by POSIX. The default is to use the basic set, but
you can switch to extended patterns with the --extended-regexp parameter. Please have a look at the grep(1) and regex(7) manpage for de-
tailed information.
EXAMPLES
String Matches "String"
^String
Matches "String" at the beginning of a line
String$
Matches "String" at the end of a line
^String$
Line contains only "String"
[Ss]tring
Matches "String" or "string"
Str.ng The dot matches all characters, so this matches for example "String" or "Strong"
Str.*ng
The dot together with star matches any number of characters, so this matches for example "String" or "Streaming"
^[A-Z] *
Matches any one of the characters from A to Z at the beginning of a line followed by zero or any number of spaces
String|Word
Matches "String" or "Word" when working with basic regular expressions
String|Word
Matches "String" or "Word" when working with extended regular expressions
ENVIRONMENT
TERM This variable is checked to see which type of console logapp is running in. Currently only the value dumb is handled in a special
way -- by disabling console colors. If the TERM variable is missing also a dumb terminal is assumed. The setting can be overridden
by enabling/disabling the dumb terminal mode using the --dumbterm option.
FILES
~/.logapprc, /etc/logapp.conf, /etc/logapp/logapp.conf
Configuration file locations that are tried if no --configfile option is provided.
BUGS
See the TODO file included in the source package.
SEE ALSO
grep(1), regex(7)
AUTHOR
Michael Brunner
COPYING
Copyright (C) 2007-2010 Michael Brunner
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MER-
CHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the General Public License for more details.
logapp 0.15 December 2010 logapp(1)