Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 10:30:01 -0700 (PDT) From: "Ronald F. Guilmette" <rfg@monkeys.com> To: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: bin/11987: vacation(1) documentation and error logging both suck Message-ID: <199906101730.KAA65998@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR bin/11987; it has been noted by GNATS. From: "Ronald F. Guilmette" <rfg@monkeys.com> To: Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za> Cc: freebsd-gnats-submit@freebsd.org Subject: Re: bin/11987: vacation(1) documentation and error logging both suck Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 10:23:20 -0700 In message <70683.929034820@axl.noc.iafrica.com>, you wrote: > > >On Thu, 10 Jun 1999 08:55:51 MST, "Ronald F. Guilmette" wrote: > >> Hey! I paid my dues already as regards to donating time to free >> software projects. > >Perhaps I misread the tone of your message. Regardless, mine wasn't >called for. Let me offer you a more civil response: > >1) Returning >0 is pretty much a standard UNIXism to the extent that > a manpage that doesn't mention it can't really be said to "suck". That majority of man pages I have seen _do_ document the possible exit codes for programs. >2) The manpage _does_ mention that erorr messages are logged through the > syslog(3) interface. The manpage has always mentioned this. Hummm... You're right. I still don't see where the specific syslog facility used by the program is mentioned. That is an _important_ bit of data. (The facility used for logging is the "user" facility.) >3) It _is_ a good idea to log through syslog. The whole point of > vacation is that it's often used by people who are _away_ from the > system. Therefore it's usually best for error messages to go > somewhere that the administrator will pick them up. It is _ok_ to log through syslog, but this particular program is commonly used by ordinary end users who may not have access to ther relevant syslog files (which may be necessary in order to figure out usage problems), and thus, error messages should _also_ be written to someplace where the ordinary end user has some hope of seeing them, e.g. ~/.vacation.err or something like that. >4) Because error messages go somewhere that is visible to the > administrator, the mysterious "error 1" is easy for her to > investigate. Right. But if the sysadmin is away on a three week vacation in the Bahamas, and if the poor end user just has to figure out the problem for himself/herself then that could be impossible if (as is customary) the syslog files are tucked away in some obscure place and/or set with a mode which makes them unreadable to mere mortals. >Hopefully, this provides you with the academic motivation behind my >somewhat emotional response. Ditto. I must apologize also for _my_ emotional bug report. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-bugs" in the body of the message
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