Re: Is there a log file of ...?
On Fri 07 Sep 2018 at 14:46:31 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote:
> Earlier today when launching a long used from a console rather than by
> clicking on an icon, I got a strange WARNING message.
Is that an indication that you were expecting some difference in
the result of launching (un)said command?
If so, starting with a script command might be advisable; this
will capture the console dialogue in a file (default "typescript").
> I reported it on a related Usenet group. I got a reply from a Windows
> user suggesting several things to investigate. A key sub-string, and
> its usage, caught my attention. I used the Mate Search Tool to locate
> any file with that sub-string. Found one. Rather than deleting it I
> just added some characters to the beginning of the filename. The
> purpose was to easily restore things to the original state. It
> _*APPARENTLY*_ solved my problem. Later a different path of
> investigation was suggested.
>
> I wish to restore the old filename to run a test of the 2nd suggestion.
>
> Real world intervenes - i.e. Murphy's Law
> By a weird chain of associations I was able discover its *NEW* name.
> Still not sure of its original name - but that's another issue to be
> explored on a different group.
I'm not quite sure why, given the new name, you can't recognise the
difference between what you typed at the beginning of the filename
and the remaining original part. That is, unless the file was called
ydjhsmjeieeiigeiujqkmq and you prefixed it with udcrxaglskqnebkf.
But ho hum…
> To repeat my subject line: "Is there a log file of ...?"
> In this case I know the file's extension and VERY approximately when
> the name was changed.
>
> In the appropriate time period I know that there were no more than a
> dozen files created/destroyed/renamed.
This would be very useful in future if you were unsure of the name and
location of the file sporting its new name. One way to locate those
files is like this:
$ find / -type f -cmin -2880 -a -cmin +1440 -print | less
will find files whose status information was modified between 24 and
48 hours ago. If you renamed a file, that should affect the ctime.
You can choose your numbers appropriately and focus the search by
changing / to something more specific, or even adding -name \*.ext
where ext is the known extension.
> Is there a relevant log file?
Not in arrears. That's why it's worth copy/pasting the lines around
the warning when you post it, rather than taking the zero-content
approach as here and elsewhere. Then you could just look back at
the post. Similarly for the script. (I use the bash function
{ script "typescript-$HOSTNAME-$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S)-$1" }
so that script is labelled and also can't overwrite the same file
"typescript" each time you invoke it.)
Cheers,
David.
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