Package: guix;
Reported by: Robert Vollmert <rob <at> vllmrt.net>
Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2019 13:37:01 UTC
Severity: normal
Done: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.
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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System) To: Robert Vollmert <rob <at> vllmrt.net> Subject: bug#36510: closed (Re: bug#36510: confusing mcron logging) Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2022 01:23:02 +0000
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Your bug report #36510: confusing mcron logging which was filed against the guix package, has been closed. The explanation is attached below, along with your original report. If you require more details, please reply to 36510 <at> debbugs.gnu.org. -- 36510: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=36510 GNU Bug Tracking System Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems
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From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com> To: Dale Mellor <mcron-lsfnyl <at> rdmp.org> Cc: 36510-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org Subject: Re: bug#36510: confusing mcron logging Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2022 20:22:25 -0500Hello Dale, Dale Mellor <mcron-lsfnyl <at> rdmp.org> writes: > Hi, sorry for the delay but I've had a bit of time over Christmas > to look things over. I've given this a lot of consideration. Apologies for my lack of reply thus far, it seems your mail had fallen in cracks. > > I am happy to drop compatibility with guile-2.2 and older; I think we > can make a minor version bump for this break with legacy. > > > > Does this belong in mcron? The mcron source code is currently > 3,000 lines, to which you are bringing over 500 new ones to > make a facility which is geared towards debugging in the GUIX > system (I am all-in on GUIX myself, but mcron is a generic GNU > program with use-cases outside of this system). I wonder if > this is the best place: perhaps it is shepherd, which is > responsible for the /var/log/mcron.log file, to be responsible > for the amended logging messages? And then again, isn't this > exactly what syslogd does anyway? Most likely timings will be > more accurate if they are generated in mcron. Since Shepherd 0.9+, it now appends logging information to every output it handles, so this feature has indeed become less important, but still useful: I've recently bumped our package of mcron in Guix and I'm using its annotation facility to prepend the process ID to its output. I think the grunt of new lines added must be as documentation and test code, so that's not so bad as it seems I think. > In your use-case, of debugging the system, I would think that > more specialized messages placed directly in the cron jobs > themselves would be a better aid to your work, as you can > target them to the problem at hand. And you could send those > to syslogd if you wanted. Here's a sample output from the Guix build farm: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- 2022-11-21 01:56:15 84005 /gnu/store/ypyz886hd7qaw0g8ba5a595dc0qgnj3q-update-guix.gnu.org: running... 2022-11-21 01:59:24 84005 /gnu/store/ypyz886hd7qaw0g8ba5a595dc0qgnj3q-update-guix.gnu.org: Updating channel 'guix' from Git repository at 'https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix.git'... 2022-11-21 01:59:24 84005 /gnu/store/ypyz886hd7qaw0g8ba5a595dc0qgnj3q-update-guix.gnu.org: Computing Guix derivation for 'x86_64-linux'... 2022-11-21 01:59:24 84005 /gnu/store/ypyz886hd7qaw0g8ba5a595dc0qgnj3q-update-guix.gnu.org: [2022-11-21T01:56:18+0100] building web site from 'https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guix/guix-artwork.git'... 2022-11-21 01:59:24 84005 /gnu/store/ypyz886hd7qaw0g8ba5a595dc0qgnj3q-update-guix.gnu.org: completed in 189.325s 2022-11-21 02:00:00 91665 /gnu/store/xsc4x68avp8nmrf3hgvhd26yl3k90jqz-check-disk-space: running... 2022-11-21 02:00:00 91665 /gnu/store/xsc4x68avp8nmrf3hgvhd26yl3k90jqz-check-disk-space: completed in 0.046s --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- The timestamp is now generated by Shepherd, and mcron adds the PID of the job, such as 84005 above. To have some indication of how long the job ran available at a quick glance is very useful for admin purposes. > > > The output is a little unpredictable. The script (which is > admittedly somewhat pathological) > > (job '(next-second '(0 30)) '(begin (display "test: ") > (system "date"))) > > produces > > 2022-01-04T11:24:00 (...): running... > 2022-01-04T11:24:00 (...): Tue 4 Jan 11:24:00 GMT 2022 > 2022-01-04T11:24:00 (...): test: completed in 0.022s > 2022-01-04T11:24:30 (...): running... > 2022-01-04T11:24:30 (...): Tue 4 Jan 11:24:30 GMT 2022 > 2022-01-04T11:25:00 (...): running... > 2022-01-04T11:25:00 (...): Tue 4 Jan 11:25:00 GMT 2022 > ... I've noticed that too, that some jobs somehow escape producing the "completed in x..." message. I'll try looking into that, it's probably a subtle bug. > But all things considered your changes are generally useful to > have, including outside of the GUIX system, and I would very > much like to have them there. But to be sure not to break any > existing applications, I would like the changes to be opt-in > via a command-line switch -l; the --log-format option can > remain to customize this (please also make -L a short option > alternative; also -D as short for --date-format). > > I am willing and able to do this work myself in a reasonable > time-frame if you would like me to. Thank you for taking on yourself the above work, Dale! I was happily surprise to see this change had landed with your improvement on top. I think this Guix issue can now be closed :-). -- Thanks, Maxim
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From: Robert Vollmert <rob <at> vllmrt.net> To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org Subject: confusing mcron logging Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2019 15:35:35 +0200I have two mcron jobs on my system, certbot renewal and a handwritten and currently buggy guile job. This is an excerpt from /var/log/mcron.log: >>>>> Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Plugins selected: Authenticator webroot, Installer None Cert not yet due for renewal Keeping the existing certificate - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Certificate not yet due for renewal; no action taken. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Acquiring or renewing certificate: garp.vllmrt.net Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Plugins selected: Authenticator webroot, Installer None Cert not yet due for renewal Keeping the existing certificate - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Certificate not yet due for renewal; no action taken. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Acquiring or renewing certificate: garp.vllmrt.net Backtrace: 9 (apply-smob/1 #<catch-closure 5cf300>) In ice-9/boot-9.scm: 829:9 8 (catch mcron-error #<procedure 7fe67c318d28 at mcron/s?> ?) In mcron/scripts/mcron.scm: 99:7 7 (_) In mcron/base.scm: 234:12 6 (_ #<continuation 5ad660>) In srfi/srfi-1.scm: 640:9 5 (for-each #<procedure run-job (job)> (#<<job> user: #(?>)) In mcron/base.scm: 186:10 4 (run-job #<<job> user: #("root" "x" 0 0 "System adminis?>) In ice-9/eval.scm: 293:34 3 (_ #(#(#<directory (mcron scripts mcron) 6a9c80>))) 182:19 2 (proc #(#(#<directory (mcron scripts mcron) 6a9c80>))) 142:16 1 (compile-top-call _ (7 . get-string-all) ((10 (# . #) ?))) In unknown file: 0 (%resolve-variable (7 . get-string-all) #<directory (mc?>) ERROR: In procedure %resolve-variable: Unbound variable: get-string-all Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Plugins selected: Authenticator webroot, Installer None Cert not yet due for renewal Keeping the existing certificate - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Certificate not yet due for renewal; no action taken. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Acquiring or renewing certificate: garp.vllmrt.net Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Plugins selected: Authenticator webroot, Installer None Cert not yet due for renewal Keeping the existing certificate - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Certificate not yet due for renewal; no action taken. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Acquiring or renewing certificate: garp.vllmrt.net <<<<< It’s impossible to tell what output is from which job; which jobs succeeded or didn’t; when they ran. Suggestions: - mcron should log the timestamp and a job id of every job when it starts - mcron should log the timestamp and status and job id of every job when it finishes - job output should be prefixed by some job id
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