Logging

Two types of logging are available in the AccuRev GUI:

• The Logs tab
• The accurev.log log file

This section describes logging features in the AccuRev GUI and how to use them. Logging is also available for the AccuRev Server. See Server Logging in the AccuRev Administrator’s Guide for more information.

In this topic:

The Logs Tab

The Logs tab provides access to command logs created during the current GUI session by these commands:

• Update and Update Preview
• Populate
• Update issues
• Commands that change include/exclude rules

AccuRev creates these logs automatically, and deletes them when you close the AccuRev GUI.

Opening a Logs Tab

Choose View > Logs from the GUI main menu.

Logs Tab Layout

The Logs tab contains a table with Operation, Stream, and Date columns:

• Operation - The command that created the log: Update, Update Preview, Populate, Include, Exclude, Clear, Update Issues.
• Stream - The workspace or stream in which the operation took place.
• Date - A timestamp indicating when the operation took place.

Working in a Logs Tab

You can display, save and delete individual logs, using these commands:

• View - Display the contents of the selected log in a text editor window. You can use environment variable AC_EDITOR_GUI or EDITOR to control which text editor gets invoked. If neither variable is set, AccuRev selects a program provided by the operating system.
• Save As - Copy the selected log to another location.
• Delete - Remove the log file from disk storage (and from this table). Logs are stored in temporary files (for example, C:\Documents and Settings\jjp\Local Settings\Temp\log3382.tmp). These files are removed automatically at the end of the GUI session.

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The accurev.log File

AccuRev records all operations performed in the AccuRev GUI in the accurev.log file on a daily basis; if you stop and start AccuRev multiple times during the same calendar day, the existing log is updated. The accurev.log file for a given day is archived upon creation of the first log message on the following day. To create the archive log file, AccuRev renames the daily log file with a yyyy-mm-dd timestamp; the archive log file for June 1, 2012 would be named accurev.2012-06-01.log, for example. The daily log file, accurev.log, is always used to record activity for the current day.

By default, AccuRev stores archive log files for 10 days; archive log files older than 10 days are deleted. Both the daily log file and archive log file are written to the user’s .accurev profile directory (so that administrator privileges are not required to write to the file).

Example. Imagine you started AccuRev on June 1, 2012 and used it every day for a couple of weeks. At 9 a.m. on June 2, you performed a keep of several modified files; AccuRev creates a message in the accurev.log file, and creates the archive log file for the activity for June 1 (.accurev\accurev.2012-06-01.log). Archive log files would be created each day in this fashion (accurev.2012-06-02.log would be created sometime on June 3, accurev.2012-06-03.log sometime on June 4, and so on). Upon the first logged event on June 12, however, two things would occur:

An archive log file for June 11 activity would be created (.accurev\accurev.2012-06-11.log) as usual.

The archive log file for June 1, 2012-06-01.log, would be deleted because it is older than 10 days.

You can configure the number of days you want to keep archive log files and other aspects of the log. See Configuring Logging for more information.

Sample Log

Following is a sample of the output that is written to the daily log file:

Logging Levels

AccuRev supports several logging levels, as summarized in the following table:

Level	Description
TRACE	Includes TRACE, DEBUG, INFO, WARN, and ERROR.
DEBUG	Includes DEBUG, INFO, WARN, and ERROR.
INFO	Includes INFO, WARN, and ERROR. INFO is the logging level default.
WARN	Includes WARN and ERROR.
ERROR	Includes only ERROR.
OFF	Turns off logging.

To change the logging level, modify the level= attribute of the <root> element in the logback.xml file. See Configuring Logging for more information.

Configuring Logging

The logback.xml file contains several editable settings that allow you to configure logging in the accurev.log file as summarized in the following table:

If You Want to ...	Edit This XML Element Tag	Comments
Change the number of days AccuRev stores archive log files	<maxHistory>	By default, AccuRev stores archive log files for 10 days.
Change the logging level	<root level="INFO">	The default value for the level= attribute is "INFO". See Logging Levels for more information.
Turn off logging altogether	<root level="INFO">	Set the value of the level= attribute to "OFF".

 

You should not change other values in the logback.xml file.

To change a setting in the logback.xml file:

1. Open the logback.xml file. This file is in the \bin directory where you installed the AccuRev client.
2. Find the XML element tag whose value or attribute you need to change.

3. Save the logback.xml file.

   Changes to logging settings take effect after a minute or two; you do not have to restart AccuRev.

Additional Information

AccuRev uses logback third-party software to implement logging. For more information on logback, see the Logback documentation.

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