# Terminal Dashboard for Monitoring Log Files
`logtail` displays one or more log files in the terminal in the manner of `tail -f`.
Features of `logtail`:
- it displays more than one logfile, one above the other or side-by-side
- the display updates as each logfile grows
- you can fork **logtail-dash** to create customised views of your logfile data
`logtail` is written in Rust and uses [tui-rs](https://github.com/fdehau/tui-rs) to create the terminal UI, and [linemux](https://github.com/jmagnuson/linemux) to monitor the logfiles.
## Operating Systems
- **Linux:** works on Ubuntu.
- **Windows:** works on Windows 10.
- **MacOS:** let me know what happens!
## Install from crates.io
1 Install **Rust** via https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/getting-started/installation.html
2a. **Linux/MacOS** install **logtail:**
cargo install logtail
logtail-crossterm --help
2b. **Windows** install **logtail-crossterm:**
cargo install logtail --bin logtail-crossterm --features="crossterm" logtail-crossterm --help
3a. **Linux/MacOS** (optional) install **vdash:**
cargo install vdash
vdash --help
3b. **Windows** (optional) install **vdash-crossterm:**
cargo install vdash --bin vdash-crossterm --features="crossterm"
vdash-crossterm --help
Note: `vdash` is a fork of `logtail` that provides a dashboard for SAFE Network Vaults (see [vdash](https://github.com/theWebalyst/vdash)).
## Usage
In the terminal type the command and the paths of one or more logfiles you want to monitor. For example:
logtail /var/log/auth.log /var/log/kern.log
When the dashboard is active, pressing 'v' or 'h' switches between horizontal and vertical arrangments (when viewing more than one logfile).
For more information:
logtail --help
## Customised Logfile Dashboards
If you want to use the core functionality of logtail-dash to create
a customised terminal display based on real time updates to files,
you can do this by creating a fork and customising the files in src/custom:
`src/custom/opt.rs`: command line options and usage
`src/custom/app.rs`: application logic (e.g. parsing logfiles to `dashboard state)
`src/custom/ui.rs `: dashboard display and keyboard/mouse interface
Example: `vdash` is a fork of `logtail` that provides a dashboard for SAFE Network Vaults (see [vdash](https://github.com/theWebalyst/vdash)).
## Build
### Get pre-requisites
1. **Get Rust:** see: https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/getting-started/installation.html
### Get code
```
git clone https://github.com/theWebalyst/logtail-dash
cd logtail-dash
```
### Build
#### Linux / MacOS
Builds logtail which uses the termion backend (see [tui-rs](https://github.com/fdehau/tui-rs)).
Note: MacOS is untested
```
cargo build --bin logtail --features="termion" --release
```
#### Windows 10
Builds logtail-crossterm which uses the crossterm backend (see [tui-rs](https://github.com/fdehau/tui-rs)), with the intention to support Windows.
NOT working on Windows yet, this is being worked on at the moment. Help with testing appreciated.
```
cargo build --bin logtail-crossterm --features="crossterm" --release
```
### Quick Test
Here's a couple of useful commands to build and run `logtail` to monitor a couple of Linux logfiles.
Open two terminals and in one run logtail-dash with:
```
cargo run --bin logtail --features="termion" /var/log/auth.log /var/log/kern.log
```
In a second terminal you can affect the first logfile by trying and failing to 'su root':
```
su root </dev/null
```
You can use any logfiles for this basic level of testing. Here are some to try:
/var/log/syslog
/var/log/auth.log
/var/log/lastlog
/var/log/dmesg
/var/log/kern.log
/var/log/boot.log
## LICENSE
Everything is GPL3.0 unless otherwise stated. Any contributions are accepted on the condition they conform to this license.
See also ./LICENSE