Supported options

The recipe supports the following options:

logfiles

Logfiles is a list of one or more logfiles that should be handled by the logcheck utility. This parameter is required.

recipient

One (?TODO: check) email address to serve as recipient of the logcheck emails. This parameter is required.

ignores

Several optional lines of regex expressions. If a regex matches, the matching line is excluded from the logcheck email.

subject

Subject used in the email subject. (Note: only part of the subject, logcheck itself appends/prepends the date and so.) Defaults to logfile path instead of the unhelpful “System Events” default of logcheck itself.

Example usage

We’ll start by creating a buildout that uses the recipe:

>>> write('buildout.cfg',
... """
... [buildout]
... parts = logcheck
...
... [logcheck]
... recipe = tha.recipe.logcheck
... logfiles = var/example.log
... recipient = someone@example.com
... subject = my site
... """)

Running the buildout installs a directory structure in parts and var:

>>> print 'start', system(buildout)
start...
Installing logcheck.
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/var/logcheck
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/var/logcheck/state
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/cracking.d
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/cracking.ignore.d
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/violations.d
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/violations.ignore.d
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/ignore.d.paranoid
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/ignore.d.server
logcheck: Created /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/ignore.d.workstation
<BLANKLINE>
>>> ls('var/logcheck')
d  state
>>> ls('parts/logcheck')
d  cracking.d
d  cracking.ignore.d
d  ignore.d.paranoid
d  ignore.d.server
d  ignore.d.workstation
-  logcheck.conf
-  logcheck.logfiles
d  violations.d
d  violations.ignore.d
>>> ls('bin')
-  buildout

The logfiles config file lists the logfiles:

>>> cat('parts/logcheck/logcheck.logfiles')
/sample-buildout/var/example.log

The generic config file lists the right directories:

>>> cat('parts/logcheck/logcheck.conf')
REPORTLEVEL="workstation"
SENDMAILTO="someone@example.com"
FQDN=0
RULEDIR="/sample-buildout/parts/logcheck"
LOCKFILE="/sample-buildout/var/logcheck/lock"
LOGFILES_LIST="/sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/logcheck.logfiles"
STATEDIR="/sample-buildout/var/logcheck/state"
EVENTSSUBJECT="my site"

If you don’t specify a subject, the default fallback is the filename that is checked (added in 0.4):

>>> write('buildout.cfg',
... """
... [buildout]
... parts = logcheck
...
... [logcheck]
... recipe = tha.recipe.logcheck
... logfiles = var/example.log
... recipient = someone@example.com
... """)
>>> print 'start', system(buildout)
start Uninstalling logcheck.
Installing logcheck.
<BLANKLINE>
>>> cat('parts/logcheck/logcheck.conf')
REPORTLEVEL="workstation"
SENDMAILTO="someone@example.com"
FQDN=0
RULEDIR="/sample-buildout/parts/logcheck"
LOCKFILE="/sample-buildout/var/logcheck/lock"
LOGFILES_LIST="/sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/logcheck.logfiles"
STATEDIR="/sample-buildout/var/logcheck/state"
EVENTSSUBJECT="/sample-buildout/var/example.log"

Specifiying two logfiles is possible

>>> write('buildout.cfg',
... """
... [buildout]
... parts = logcheck
...
... [logcheck]
... recipe = tha.recipe.logcheck
... logfiles =
...     var/example.log
...     var/emergency.log
... recipient = someone@example.com
... subject = my site
... """)
>>> print 'start', system(buildout)
start Uninstalling logcheck.
Installing logcheck.
<BLANKLINE>
>>> cat('parts/logcheck/logcheck.logfiles')
/sample-buildout/var/example.log
/sample-buildout/var/emergency.log

Strategy

The logcheck setup done by this recipe is very simple. The needed logcheck directories are created, but mostly left empty. This means that all logfile messages are, in principle, mailed.

This is obviously not intended. Therefore the ignore.d.workstation directory has one file with ignore regex’s if you specified them.

>>> ls('parts/logcheck/ignore.d.workstation')

We specify a regex:

>>> write('buildout.cfg',
... """
... [buildout]
... parts = logcheck
...
... [logcheck]
... recipe = tha.recipe.logcheck
... logfiles = var/example.log
... recipient = someone@example.com
... ignores =
...     ^.+INFO.*
... """)

>>> print 'start', system(buildout)
start...
Uninstalling logcheck.
Installing logcheck.
logcheck: Writing file with 1 ignore patterns: /...station/logcheck-ignores
<BLANKLINE>

>>> ls('parts/logcheck/ignore.d.workstation')
-   logcheck-ignores
>>> cat ('parts/logcheck/ignore.d.workstation/logcheck-ignores')
^.+INFO.*

Logcheck is supposed to be called from a cronjob. The recipe provides an option that lists the correct command that can be used from other recipes:

>>> write('crontab', '')
>>> write('buildout.cfg',
... """
... [buildout]
... parts = logcheck crontab
...
... [logcheck]
... recipe = tha.recipe.logcheck
... logfiles = var/example.log
... recipient = someone@example.com
... ignores =
...     ^.+INFO.*
...
... [crontab]
... recipe = z3c.recipe.usercrontab
... times = */5 * * * *
... command = ${logcheck:command}
... readcrontab = cat ${buildout:directory}/crontab
... writecrontab = cat > ${buildout:directory}/crontab
...
... """)
>>> print 'start', system(buildout)
start...
Updating logcheck.
Installing crontab.
>>> cat('crontab')
<BLANKLINE>
# Generated by /sample-buildout [crontab]
*/5 * * * * /usr/sbin/logcheck -c /sample-buildout/parts/logcheck/logcheck.conf
# END /sample-buildout [crontab]
<BLANKLINE>

1.1 (2009-12-18)

• Documentation and license update. [reinout]

• Adjusted tests for change in crontab recipe. [reinout]

1.0 (2009-05-27)

• Cleaned up code a bit (bootstrap.py in proper location and so). [reinout]

0.4 (2009-05-22)

• Default subject is now the full pathname of the first logfile. [reinout]

• Little bit more testing. [reinout]

0.3 (2009-04-21)

• Allow option (‘subject’) of setting the subject. (Well, part of the subject at least). [reinout]

0.2 (2009-03-30)

• Fixed typo in ignore file generation. [reinout]

0.1 (2009-03-17)

• Added “command” option for use in crontab recipe. [reinout]

• Creating logcheck directories and configfiles in var/ and parts/. [reinout]

• Created recipe with ZopeSkel [reinout]