[tahoe-lafs-trac-stream] [tahoe-lafs] #1936: the tahoe-lafs logging system is hard to discover

[tahoe-lafs]

#1936: the tahoe-lafs logging system is hard to discover
------------------------------+--------------------------------------------
     Reporter:  zooko         |      Owner:
         Type:  defect        |     Status:  new
     Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  undecided
    Component:  code-         |    Version:  1.9.2
  nodeadmin                   |   Keywords:  usability transparency logging
   Resolution:                |
Launchpad Bug:                |
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Comment (by zooko):

 Replying to [comment:3 warner]:
 > Let's see, {{{~/.tahoe/logs}}} contains two things:
 >
 > * {{{twistd.log}}}, which has top-level crashes that happen after
 daemonization (like "address already in use"), and other unhandled
 exceptions
 > * {{{incidents/}}}, which are foolscap "flog" bundles, created when
 something weird happens
 >
 > In addition, there's stuff written to stderr during {{{tahoe start}}},
 if it happens before daemonization. There's also runtime logging
 accessible with {{{flogtool tail NODEDIR/private/logport.furl}}}.
 >
 > We have a couple tickets about moving errors from post-daemonization to
 pre- , where they're immediately visible to the person running {{{tahoe
 start}}} or {{{tahoe run}}} (in contrast, post-daemonization errors are
 pretty hard to discover). I think we've managed to move most configuration
 errors to the pre-daemonization phase (by doing all our checking in
 {{{Client.__init__}}}), but address-already-in-use might be a significant
 exception.

 I agree it would be an improvement to move more things to pre-
 daemonization. For that matter, what about the major strategy change of
 not implementing daemonization ourselves at all! We could leave that job
 up to daemontools, supervisord, upstart, systemd, or {{{tahoe run > tahoe-
 stdout.log.txt 2> tahoe-stderr.log.txt &}}}.

 > What if we had the node write out a {{{~/.tahoe/logs/README}}} each time
 it started, with a few lines about what each logfile was for, and how to
 run {{{flogtool tail}}} ?

 +1

 Well, actually it should probably instruct you to read the
 [source:git/docs/logging.rst] file (on the principle of Don't Repeat
 Yourself).

 Also, what do you think about [comment:1 the earlier proposal] to have
 {{{tahoe --help}}} mention the existence of the [source:docs/logging.rst]
 file?

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1936#comment:4>
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