Re: Common Log format

brian@hotwired.com wrote:
> The choice is yours if you're going to change from logging the actual 
> request to logging the actual object served; maybe this is an issue for 
> CLF-NG.  A few of us have ideas about that - like maybe it should really 
> just be an API whose expression can be a simple string of variables,
> like
> 
> $HOST $IDENTD $AUTHUSER [$MDAY/$MN/$YR:$HR:$MN:$SC $GMT] "$REQUEST" $ERRCODE $LENGTH
> 
> to represent the current CLF.  This string could be shared with log file 
> analysers and other applications that required it. 

I've been thinking about this too.  Let's call the string a "log
template".  Why not base it on the strftime() function?  The current
CLF would be:

%R %i %u [%d/%m/%Y:%H:%M:%S %O] "%q" %s %n

where:

%R remote client name
%i user ident
%u authenticated user name
%O offset from GMT
%q literal request from client
%s status code
%n number of bytes sent

and the others are as defined by strftime().

Other things you might want are:

%l IP address the request was received on
%L host name corresponding to %l
%Q document actually served
%r remote client IP address
etc

You could also record an arbitary HTTP header using (eg)
%:user-agent:

Regards,

Chris Adie                                   PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS &
Edinburgh University Computing Service       PHONE/FAX NUMBERS!
James Clark Maxwell Building                 Phone:  +44 131 650 6773
Kings Buildings                              Fax:    +44 131 650 6552
Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom            Email:  C.J.Adie@ed.ac.uk

Received on Thursday, 13 April 1995 04:58:35 UTC