Automated Bug-Reporting Tool
Richard Ryniker
ryniker at alum.mit.edu
Sun Sep 20 16:35:30 UTC 2009
I have two complaints about the implementation of what looks to be a good
idea:
/var/log/messages is littered with messages (every two minutes, using the
default configuration) that, in effect, say "Nothing interesting to say."
Sep 15 23:07:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:09:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:11:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:13:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:15:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:17:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:19:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:21:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:23:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
Sep 15 23:25:40 vista abrtd: Scanning syslog...
This may be caused by some test code that should have been removed before
the abrt package was built. If it is intentional, the
/etc/abrt/abrt.conf file ought to have some statement that suppresses
"nothing to say" messages until the user changes it to request them.
While the full name of the tool is descriptive, I think the abbreviated
name of the daemon makes it appear some program aborted during
examination of the system log file. Instead of "abrtd" a name such as
"bugreportd" would be less alarming, and still better name choices may be
easy to find.
Names are personal things, and I have learned now what "abrtd" means in
this context. What matters is whether a name change will make any
significant reduction in the number of other users who mistake "abrtd"
for "aborted". After my experience, I cannot be naive about this (Alas!
No longer a virgin.) and ask others to consider the worth of a different
name for this daemon.
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