Logavista: Linux System Log Viewer (Qt)
Key Features • How To Use • Soliciting Feedback • Bugs • Build Instructions • Related • License
⚠️ 👀 Software is in Beta Testing Currently- Monitor over 20 log file types
- Can merge log files of different types providing they have a valid timestamp
- Customized specifically for MX Linux (Debian)
- Tabbed viewing (press Ctl-T) to monitor multiple logs
- Live viewing of log files.
- Search the logs using keywords or filter by priority level of
You can download the .deb binary file or build your own.
On any Linux desktop, just run from the graphical menu: System/Logavista. You can edit the /usr/share/applications/logavista.desktop file to change the launcher.
Oherwise, you can open a terminal and run:
$ sudo /usr/bin/logavista &Logavista will open with minimal icons on the toolbar and no tabs. By default, Logavista displays System Log (this is configurable). The window title reflects the log modality currently being displayed. The toolbar must be configured by you in order to see more icons. Tabs can be created by pressing Ctl-T.
Logs are found in the Logs menu. HOWEVER, a log modality will not appear there until it has a valid log file to monitor.
Logavista attempts to auto-populate your default log files with choices that make sense. To configure logs and Logavista in general, select the Settings/Configure_Logavista menu. This will open a dialog that allows you to see which log files a particular Log Mode is monitoring. Use the Add and Remove buttons to change your log files. Keep in mind that the software expects the logs to be in a particular format. In fact, the name of the log file is frequently used to adjust the data presented to you. So, make sure they have the typical names. Use the Merge or "Merge All" buttons to add log files to the Merged Logs modality.
Tabs are not normally displayed to conserve screen area. To open a tab, press Ctl-T or select "Window/New Tab". You can right click on tabs or drag-n-drop to control. There are add and delete buttons on the tab bar.
You can use the search bar (Filter: bar) to search for particular events, or use the Dropdown Priorities menu to select which alert levels you want to monitor. Log lines are colored depending on priority. The color code is in this dropdown menu.
You can configure the Toolbar by using a right click (context menu) on the toolbar, and selecting "Configure Toolbars". Because this is a KDE application, you can also use this menu to control whether the icons display text. DON'T change the icon size to default unless you want it that way permanently.
The most exciting feature is the MergedLogs. This allows log files of different types to be merged into one. By default, it is populated with the /var/log/syslog. You can use the merge buttons in the configuration dialog to add files to the MergedLogs or just add them directly. A word of warning... not all log lines will show up unless they have a valid timestamp. There's no way to sort them otherwise.
The status bar at the bottom of the window has a popup listing of log update histories.
If Logavista becomes hopelessly misconfigured, simply delete the /root/.config/logavistarc file, and the program will create a new one, forgetting all your previous changes. If you are are running as a non-root user, the configuration file is in $HOME/.config/logavistarc.
Logavista is based on a previous project which requires that new classes be derived to monitor different log file types. As a result, adding new log modalities isn't trivial.
Many of the log file types lack proper timestamps and host/process information. I have created a simple algorithm to add timestamps and parse the different log file types so that they are understandable. I am looking for feedback on how well this is being accomplished.
In particular, I have not had the chance to test against modern Samba, Apache, CUPS, mail transport programs, and Acpid log file types.
I am also looking for different log file types to monitor that aren't currently listed, but are in common use. Please open an Issue feature request if you have some worthy candidate. I would like sample log files, and would prefer difficult ones indicating errors so that I can make sure the error priority classification scheme is working. If you are a member of the MX Linux community, you can PM me.
Make sure your system is set up to build Qt5 and KDE4/5 packages. You will need a C++17-capable compiler. This is a CMake project, so you will need CMake installed. I currently have it configured for gcc, but clang seems to build fine as well.
Download the source code. Change directory to the new directory and run the following commands in order.
* mkdir build; cd build;
* make -j4 ..
* sudo make install
* sudo /usr/bin/logavista (to test)
- Depends:
kio, libc6 (>= 2.14), libgcc1 (>= 1:3.0), libkf5archive5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5auth5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5codecs5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5completion5 (>= 4.97.0), libkf5configcore5 (>= 4.98.0), libkf5configgui5 (>= 4.97.0), libkf5configwidgets5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5coreaddons5 (>= 4.100.0), libkf5i18n5 (>= 4.97.0), libkf5iconthemes5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5itemviews5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5jobwidgets5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5kiocore5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5kiowidgets5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5service-bin, libkf5service5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5sonnetui5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5textwidgets5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5widgetsaddons5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5xmlgui5 (>= 4.98.0), libqt5concurrent5 (>= 5.0.2), libqt5core5a (>= 5.11.0rc1), libqt5dbus5 (>= 5.0.2), libqt5gui5 (>= 5.7.0), libqt5network5 (>= 5.0.2), libqt5printsupport5 (>= 5.0.2), libqt5widgets5 (>= 5.11.0rc1), libqt5xml5 (>= 5.0.2), libstdc++6 (>= 6)
If you want to see the changes to the code, just clone KSystemlog and Logavista and run a diff on the directories. I suggest using Meld.
- The Log menu occasionally flake out. Ksystemlog did that too. I haven't quite figured it out yet.
- There are leftover links to the original project. These need to be removed.
- Adding files to a Log Modality that currently has no files or invalid files doesn't activate the log until restart. This is possibly my fault. It happens most with MergedLogs. It's on my list to fix.
- The current log icon should be highlighted when active. Currently, the only way to tell which log you're looking at in non-tabbed view is to look at the window frame title.
- This software was forked from KDE's Ksystemlog 18.08 .
GPL - J.D. Nicholson - 2021