midas.log erased if /logger/message file is set to midas_%Y.log

[dd1]

I changed “/logger/message file” to midas_%Y.log and to my surprise my midas log file midas.log was erased (replaced by a symlink). I am lucky to have done it on a test setup and I did not have to restore my last 10 years of midas.log messages from backups.

I think we should not erase midas.log (and other log files), complain and ask the user to rename them manually, or rename them ourselves, but not erase.

K.O.

[Stefan Ritt]

I added code to copy midas.log to midas_%Y.log in that case (actually append the contents of midas.log to midas_%Y.log if that file already exists).

[dd1]

Tried it, it worked. K.O.

[dd1]

This is the filenames I get:

-rw-r--r-- 1 olchansk users 28421333 Aug 10 11:36 /home/olchansk/daq/expt/midas_2020.log
lrwxrwxrwx 1 olchansk users       40 Aug 10 11:36 /home/olchansk/daq/expt/midas.log -> /home/olchansk/daq/expt/./midas_2020.log

Would it be better to have symlinks “midas.log → midas_2020.log instead of → /full/path/midas_2020.log?

Right now, if the message directory is renamed or moved or the nfs-mount point changes, the symlink will break.

(this means we have to return 3 items, not 2: filename /full/path/midas_2020.log, linkname /full/path/midas.log and link target “midas_2020.log” (without the directory part).

K.O.

‌

[Stefan Ritt]

Makes sense.

[dd1]

Fixed, commits 6c8e198 and 7634abb. K.O.