Re: how can I redirect Subversion/apache msgs to a new file

[michael <cs@networkingnewsletter.org.uk>]

On Thu, 2008-01-17 at 12:22 -0500, Kris Deugau wrote:
> michael wrote:
> > Glad you've both got it working.
> 
> I'm afraid I have to add a "Works for me too!" to that;  I just added 
> SVN action logging to one vhost, checked out and committed to a test 
> repo;  switched the working copy to an alternate vhost, and added action 
> logging (to a different file) to that vhost.  No errors, action logs 
> showed up as they should.
> 
> > I'm using a Debian dist of Apache2
> > which, if I understand correctly, doesn't use httpd.conf but for general
> > stuff uses apache2.conf and for modules uses the relevant module conf
> > file eg mods-available/dav_svn.conf
> 
> Mmmh.  Debian has introduced a very flexible configuration system for 
> Apache.  Packaged Apache modules put configuration fragments in 
> /etc/apache2/mods-available, but they're not used unless there's a 
> matching symlink in /etc/apache2/mods-enabled.  A similar system is used 
> for vhosts.
> 
> Unless you really want options to apply to all vhosts, it's probably 
> best to leave the fragments in mods-available alone, and add 
> configuration to the vhost fragments in /etc/apache2/sites-available.
> 
> I usually open any of these fragments using the mods-enabled/ or 
> sites-enabled/ path and the symlink, to make sure I'm actually editing a 
> live file and not one that's disabled.
> 
> Run "a2enmod" and see what mods are actually loaded.  Then restart 
> Apache to make sure that's what's actually running.
> 
> Do you see any warnings in the main error log?
> 
> Are you able to use any repositories you've set up?  From your original 
> message it sounds like repository access is working, because otherwise 
> it sounds like your configuration just isn't getting parsed.
> 
> [fiddles configs]  I think I may have found your problem, but I can't 
> explain *why* it's happening.  On two machines, with three vhosts, I 
> have SVN action logs enabled and working.  However, the CustomLog 
> directive is inside each individual vhost block;  it's not "global" as 
> you appear to be trying to do.  When I tried adding the CustomLog 
> directive in the same location as you're trying, I get the same result - 
> log file is created, but nothing gets written to it.
> 
> Try adding the CustomLog to the vhost container for the vhost you're 
> trying to enable logging on - the "default" vhost should work OK if you 
> don't have any others.  I'm not certain about this, however;  you may 
> have to define a vhost, or at least move all of your live SVN 
> configuration into the 000-default vhost configuration fragment.
> 
> (The /etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.conf file is in fact completely 
> commented out on the one machine;  all actual SVN configuration is in 
> the vhost definitions.  Aside from the other machine being CentOS and 
> using a different set of fragments it's the same story.)
> 
> > ### not sure why following does not work
> > ### #MKB: turn on custom logs for easier reading
> > CustomLog /var/log/apache2/subversion.log "%t %u %{SVN-ACTION}e" env=SVN-ACTION
> > LogFormat "%t %u %{SVN-ACTION}e" svn
> 
> The LogFormat line here isn't really doing anything useful for two 
> reasons:  you've already given CustomLog the log format description, and 
> you're defining the log format after the statement defining the log 
> file.  See 
> http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_log_config.html#customlog.
> 
> -kgd


Okay, given this seems somewhat Debian-related (rather than subversion
only) I've added Debian-user to the cc list and also the
debian-admininstration lot in case they wish to use the info:

Kris, I've followed your example and 
a) yes, dav_svn.conf is enabled

b) removed all Subversion-related CustomLog directives from
mods-available/dav_svn.conf

c) I've only the default virtual host: 
	michael@ratty:/etc/apache2$ ls sites-available/
	default  default~
so have editted that to include the line
	CustomLog /var/log/apache2/subversion.log "%t %u %{SVN-ACTION}e"
env=SVN-ACTION
immediately after the line
	CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
in the (only) VirtualHost present in that file.

Then reloading apache2 and doing an 'svn export' (on another machine) I
do indeed get the required result:

michael@ratty:/var/log/apache2$ cat subversion.log
[17/Jan/2008:17:33:38 +0000] atmos_svn checkout-or-export '/'


Many thanks and I hope other Debian users find your help useful!

Michael