[Gllug] Intelligent, multiple, log tails

[David L Neil Mailing list a/c]

Bit of a newbie question: Does someone have a quick way to view (only)
recent updates to ANY and ALL server logs please?


I have a dev server and have directed all logs into one directory
(including Apache (multiple VHost, CMS, plus rewrite), multiple DB
servers, multiple email servers, PHP (etc), and applications' own logs).

When I'm tinkering, my habitual checking for any logged error/access/etc
involves first jumping into the File Browser to see which logs have new
entries, and then tail-ing each file, as relevant.

So to save time I have scripted the `tail` but that only amounts to a
few keystrokes because it is the log fileNM which is the longer (and
often with awkward dashes and underscores). Similarly I can script an
`ls` to list recently-changed files first. However I'm not smart
enough/BASH-experienced enough to put these together intelligently -
even assuming that is the way to go... Not sure what it might be called,
but does someone already have such a utility please?


- inspect nominated directory (default stated)
- check for files changed in last n-minutes (say, 10 mins)
or ...changed since hh:mm time
- list the log fileNM and its last 10 (say) entries foreach
- no need to state particular log fileNMs as parameters

or
- right-click on fileNM in Gnome File Browser
- select 'tail' from context menu for a magical pop-up

or ???something someone has undoubtedly set-up long ago


I know CentOS has a system log viewer but I haven't got into it beyond
its default settings for simple SysAdmin monitoring. I have rejected
db-based ideas because sometimes (shock, horror) my 'change' might foul
up the RDBMS... Perhaps I should be using the Apache "combined" log
format option to reduce the sheer number of logs? All advice, best
practice wisdom, etc, will be appreciated.

Please advise,
=dn
CentOS 5.2, Gnome 2.16, Apache 2.2, PHP 5.2, Python 2.4, ...
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