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Log file

PostPosted: 10.07.2019, 21:21
by cdgoldin
My .\log\download.log goes back to 2016. Is there any reason not to delete everything preceding the current few entries?

Re: Log file

PostPosted: 10.07.2019, 21:50
by boco
Your call. My current download log goes back to 2008, the previous one from the ctupdate tool went even far more into the past. I never felt the urge to delete or truncate it. :)

Re: Log file

PostPosted: 10.07.2019, 23:22
by Dalai
Well, having older log files has the advantage of being able to look up how older WSUS Offline versions behaved and all that.

OTOH it's a real bummer we're talking about Windows here. In Linux it's really easy to add anything to logrotate, leaving the decision to the user how often to rotate and how long to keep the logs. Well, Windows really sucks in many aspects...

Regards
Dalai

Re: Log file

PostPosted: 10.07.2019, 23:41
by boco
Quick search revealed: https://sourceforge.net/projects/logrotatewin/

Can't vote for it, of course.

Re: Log file

PostPosted: 10.07.2019, 23:46
by cdgoldin
boco wrote:Your call. My current download log goes back to 2008, the previous one from the ctupdate tool went even far more into the past. I never felt the urge to delete or truncate it. :)

Well, every time I open it with Notepad to "check for errors and warnings" it takes longer and longer to open. So that's one reason.
Secondly, files that grow without limit can eventually take over the entire disk.

Re: Log file

PostPosted: 11.07.2019, 00:44
by Dalai
cdgoldin wrote:Well, every time I open it with Notepad to "check for errors and warnings" it takes longer and longer to open. So that's one reason.

For me, that would be a reason to use an actual editor, not that concept study named Notepad. Even better, there are programs our there that deal with really large files in an instant. I, for one, use Total Commander's integrated Lister that uses memory mapping which allows to view even files of several hundred megabytes really fast.

Secondly, files that grow without limit can eventually take over the entire disk.

Why are you concerned about that? Seriously, the update files themselves are larger by orders of magnitude!

But, as was already said, it's up to you, if and when and in which intervals you delete/clear/rotate/whatever the log files.

Regards
Dalai

Re: Log file

PostPosted: 11.07.2019, 02:01
by boco
My log is currently 37.7MiB, for roughly 11 years of WOU operation. It will hardly ever fill an entire disk, for many years to go. It even fits on my smallest HDD I still have (50MB). :mrgreen: