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Prevent bloat ≠ Delete logs!!! when windowserver.log grows too big
Authored by: zahadum on Jul 03, '07 10:52:01AM

wow.

this is a a really bad idea.

talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

the wholesale destruction of log data is NEVER a good idea.

if you are savvy enough to be concerned with logs, then you should have the technical skills to manage them properly: ie write a script that parses out what you dont want (and for those who want to see a system-level reward for this house-keeping effort, this is a good occasion to learn to finally move beyond bash or perl & start learning about functional style programming techniques).

of course it bears repeating that most of the problem here is due to apple's neglect - surprise! ... there is no structured representation for the log files.

apple should have used leopard as the occasion to introduce an XML format for the logs (as well as integration with postgress .... why apple has forfeited the many slick opportunities to leverage webobjects on the desktop is beyond comprehension ... nonetheless, postgress offers the most amount of abstraction
possible for osx infrastructure management short of webobjects itself).

sadly, like most other cool initiatives at apple, xml in osx started off with a flourish but was left t languish (it is used for plists & bundle management etc).

so for log management, as with most other things at apple, the end-user is left holding the bag, having to glue together some ad hoc, low-level work-around ...

which in this case means filtering the log files for extraneous entries.

btw: It is no surprise that apple doesnt provide -

* CoreData for structured log storage
* any automator workflows, or even
* (robust/any!) applescript dictionary for console.app ...

the lack of log manipulation tools in osx - especially for windowserver - makes it easy for apple not to draw attention to how many frickin' hangs! Hangs!! HANGS!!! osx inflicts upon the user.

putting up with the hangs in osx is almost like putting up with the crashes in classic (sys 7.5) .... the constant interruption in work slowly grinds down one's spirit to the point of despair.

---
mailto:osxinfo _at_ yahoo.ca



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