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CalfCanuck

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 17, 2003
609
120
Was trying to tighten up my iBook G4 hard drive, and came across 1.4 GB of console.log files.

Is there any reason I should not delete these? Are they merely descriptive of past events or does the system need them?

Seems a bit of a waste of good HD storage to me, but want to check it out here before I do something rash! ;)
 

CalfCanuck

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 17, 2003
609
120
Bear said:
Keep console.log get rid of console.log.#
Thanks!

My console.log.1-0 are 1.27 GB, while the console.log is only 4 KB.

I'm curious what causes a new log file to begin, as the old files range in size from 4 KB to 972 MB ...
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
CalfCanuck said:
I'm curious what causes a new log file to begin, as the old files range in size from 4 KB to 972 MB ...

When you log in, a new console.log for your session is created and the old ones are rotated. If you have a laptop, chances are you sleep it constantly and don't logout/restart/login/etc very often, so your logs don't get rotated very often.
 

Platform

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2004
2,880
0
yellow said:
When you log in, a new console.log for your session is created and the old ones are rotated. If you have a laptop, chances are you sleep it constantly and don't logout/restart/login/etc very often, so your logs don't get rotated very often.

So that would be the reason for him havin so much log files :confused:
 

Platform

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2004
2,880
0
Bear said:
console.log is the current file and if something goes wrong, it'll be good to have around to look at.

Thanks

But as mention earlier does OS X do the fixing job for you if you leave your system on for a long time :confused:
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
Upon further reflection, it's more likely that the log gets rotated at logout. I'm not sure yet.

Platform said:
So that would be the reason for him havin so much log files :confused:

He will never have more then 10 archived console logs.. but their size is an indication that something is potentially wrong with the system. Something was complaining bitterly and splatting to the console, which increased their size. And if whatever splats 5MB of crap into the console.log daily, and it's 1 month between actual reboots/relogs/whatever, you're looking at 155MB of wasted space. Then the log gets auto-magically rotated when you logout(/in?), and say you have 10 of them.. poof.. that's 1.6GB worth of disk space eaten up by your logs.
 

CalfCanuck

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 17, 2003
609
120
yellow said:
He will never have more then 10 archived console logs.. but their size is an indication that something is potentially wrong with the system. Something was complaining bitterly and splatting to the console, which increased their size.
Thanks for the info.

The log files did seem to have calmed down a lot lately, so I'll be keeping an eye on them (as a example of how healthy my system is).

I'm not sure why the logs didn't clean themselves out, though, as I do sometimes leave the machine on overnight for a Retropspect backup.
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
CalfCanuck said:
I'm not sure why the logs didn't clean themselves out, though, as I do sometimes leave the machine on overnight for a Retropspect backup.

Console.log isn't touched by the overnight scripts. Peruse /etc/daily, /etc/weekly, and /etc/monthly for confirmation.
 
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