console-log.conf - Main configuration file for console-log

console-log keeps logfile pagers open on virtual consoles. /etc/console-log.conf is the configuration file controlling which log file is opened on which tty.

Empty lines and lines starting with # are ignored.

The rest of the file consists of stanzas consisting of lines formed as a single keyword and multiple values. Each stanza describes one pager being started. Stanzas are separated with blank lines. Other keywords preceded by $ are interpolated if the other keyword is set in the same stanza _before_ the current line.

tty

is the number of the tty the log pager should be started on. Choose a tty that has a virtual console. This is a mandatory setting.

chvt

If chvt is yes, the system's console will be switched to the tty of this stanza on startup. Default is no.

file

is a list of absolute paths to log files to display. The first file that is either a plain file or a symlink is displayed. The file name must not contain any spaces. This is a mandatory setting.

user, group

If user and/or group is/are given, uid/gid will be changed to the given values before invoking the log pager. User needs to be in group in /etc/group. If no user is given, the pager will be run as the default user/group set at compile time.

maxfilesize

If the file to be paged exceeds the configured size, no pager is started to avoid memory overflow. Value given in bytes. Default is 7000000. Additionally, ulimit -v is set to twice this value.

locscript

is the absolute path to a bash shell script that will be sourced before the pager is being started. The script will receive the file path as a parameter and can set environment variables that can influence the pager.

pager

is the actual program that will be invoked to display the file. Use CW$file in the position of the file name. Default is less CW$file, invoked with secure settings and follow mode acticvted. If you want to use a different pager, you need to manually adapt /usr/share/console-log/logpage. Please submit patches that extend logpager's support for other pagers via the BTS.

The default config file

 tty 9
 chvt yes
 file /var/log/syslog
 group adm

 tty 8
 file /var/log/exim4/mainlog /var/log/exim/mainlog /var/log/mail.log
 group adm

will start one log pager for the first file found from /var/log/exim4/mainlog, /var/log/exim/mainlog and /var/log/mail.log, and one log pager for /var/log/syslog, and will chvt to tty9.

If a file cannot be read by the user specified in the config file, the init script will complain. You can either change the log file permissions or put the user account in the appropriate group. For example, if /var/log/exim/mainlog is only readable by group mail, you can either change the log file group to adm (make sure to adapt the log file creation/rotation process as well), run the pager as a user that can access the log file, or else put the user account into group mail. Making the file readable for the default account is the preferred way to solve this issue since it introduces the least security risk.

/etc/console-log.conf

Many. Be prepared to debug.

This manpage was written by Marc Haber for console-log in Debian/GNU Operating System.

/etc/init.d/console-log /usr/sbin/convert-console-log.conf convert-console-log.conf(8)