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Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

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Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#21

Post by dimonomid »

ryanhecht wrote: post #19

I definitely intend on playing around with this later! I see that [gzipped log archives aren't supported]( https://dmitryfrank.com/projects/nerdlog/article#depends_on_... ), minimizing the use case for me personally. You've at least thought enough about that to bring it up as a limitation you think people will call attention to -- any plans to eventually support it?

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah it would be great, and I do want to support it, especially if the demand is popular. In fact, even if you ungzip them manually, as of today nerdlog doesn't support more than 2 files in a logstream, which needs to be fixed first.

Specifically about supporting gzipped logs though, the UX I'm thinking about is like this: if the requested time range goes beyond the earliest available ungzipped file, then warn the user that we'll have to ungzip the next file (that warning can be turned off in options though, but by default I don't want to just ungzip it silently, because it can consume a signficant amount of disk space). So if the user agrees, nerdlog ungzips it and places somewhere under tmp. It'll never delete it manually though, relying on the regular OS means of cleaning up /tmp, and will keep using it as long as it's available.

Does it make sense?

Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#22

Post by lenova »

dimonomid wrote: post #16
lenova wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate this response, and want to say I really like your tool's UI over something like lazyjournal. But like the above commentor, I would love to see journald support as well, just because it's the default these days on the distros I use, and seems like the direction the Linux system industry has headed in.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do. But for now, do you think the workaround of having to install rsyslog is not good enough?

I think it will impact first-time users giving nerdlog a quick test/trial run, and cause them to bounce to another tool when it doesn't show them logs from journald out of the box. Users can be finicky and impatient with new tools ;-)

Example: I'm running an Arch-based Linux desktop. Installing ryslog took several minutes to build and install. If I wasn't highly motivated to try out nerdlog, I would have canceled the install.

Also, can the SSH requirement for localhost be bypassed? Most users won't be running an SSH server on their desktop, and this would improve nerdlog's use-cases and make it easier for new users to give it a quick local test run.

Final suggestion: add `go get` support to your repo, so that I can install nerdlog from a single command and not have to clone the repo itself.

Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#23

Post by dimonomid »

lenova wrote: post #22
dimonomid wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do. But for now, do you think the workaround of having to install rsyslog is not good enough?

I think it will impact first-time users giving nerdlog a quick test/trial run, and cause them to bounce to another tool when it doesn't show them logs from journald out of the box. Users can be finicky and impatient with new tools ;-) Example: I'm running an Arch-based Linux desktop. Installing ryslog took several minutes to build and install. If I wasn't highly motivated to try out nerdlog, I would have canceled the…

Yeah you're right, agree with both of your points.

The `go get` one should be easy to solve though, and my bad for not thinking of it before, thanks. I'll look into it.

Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#24

Post by nodesocket »

Very nice work. Anyway to specify a group of log files in the config that are shared across many hosts? For example:

  log_files:
    mygroup:
      - /var/log/syslog
      - /var/log/foo
      - /var/log/bar
  log_streams:
    myhost-01:
      hostname: actualhost1.com
      port: 1234
      user: myuser
      log_files: mygroup
    myhost-02:
      hostname: actualhost2.com
      port: 7890
      user: myuser
      log_files: mygroup
    myhost-03:
      hostname: actualhost3.com
      port: 8888
      user: myuser
      log_files: mygroup

Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#25

Post by dimonomid »

lenova wrote: post #22
dimonomid wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can do. But for now, do you think the workaround of having to install rsyslog is not good enough?

I think it will impact first-time users giving nerdlog a quick test/trial run, and cause them to bounce to another tool when it doesn't show them logs from journald out of the box. Users can be finicky and impatient with new tools ;-) Example: I'm running an Arch-based Linux desktop. Installing ryslog took several minutes to build and install. If I wasn't highly motivated to try out nerdlog, I would have canceled the…

I first responded before your edit about ssh and localhost, so: yeah, as briefly mentioned in the article, as of today there's no shortcut even for localhost. I was debating whether I should implement this feature before open sourcing it, but I had to draw the line somewhere (I have TONS of ideas what could be implemented), and since reading local logs isn't the primary focus of nerdlog, I decided to skip it for now.

But yes the bypass for localhost can definitely be implemented.

Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#26

Post by dimonomid »

nodesocket wrote: post #24

Very nice work. Anyway to specify a group of log files in the config that are shared across many hosts? For example: log_files: mygroup: - /var/log/syslog - /var/log/foo - /var/log/bar log_streams: myhost-01: hostname: actualhost1.com port: 1234 user: myuser log_files: mygroup myhost-02: hostname: actualhost2.com port: 7890 user: myuser log_files: mygroup myhost-03: hostname: actualhost3.com port: 8888 user: myuser l…

Thanks. And no, as of today, there's no way to define a group like that. Might be a viable idea though.

However, before we go there, I want to double check that we're on the same page: this `log_files` field specifies only files _in the same logstream_; meaning, these files need to have consecutive logs. So for example, it can be ["/var/log/syslog", "/var/log/syslog.1"], or it can be ["/var/log/auth.log", "/var/log/auth.log.1"], but it can NOT be something like ["/var/log/syslog", "/var/log/auth.log"].

Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#27

Post by piterrro »

This is a really cool project — love the simplicity and the TUI approach, especially with the timeline histogram and remote-first design. I had similar pain points at my end when dealing with logs across many hosts, which led to building Logdy[1] — a tool with a slightly different philosophy.

Logdy is more web-based and focuses on live tailing, structured log search, and quick filtering across multiple sources, also without requiring a centralized server. Not trying to compare directly, but if you're exploring this space, you might find it useful as a complementary approach or for different scenarios. Although we need to work more on adding ability to query multiple hosts.

Anyway, kudos on nerdlog—always great to see lean tools in the logging space that don’t require spinning up half a dozen services.

[1] https://logdy.dev

Re: Show HN: Nerdlog – Fast, multi-host TUI log viewer with timeline histogram

#29

Post by lenova »

dimonomid wrote: post #23
lenova wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it will impact first-time users giving nerdlog a quick test/trial run, and cause them to bounce to another tool when it doesn't show them logs from journald out of the box. Users can be finicky and impatient with new tools ;-) Example: I'm running an Arch-based Linux desktop. Installing ryslog took several minutes to build and install. If I wasn't highly motivated to try out nerdlog, I would have canceled the…

Yeah you're right, agree with both of your points. The `go get` one should be easy to solve though, and my bad for not thinking of it before, thanks. I'll look into it.

Appreciate your receptiveness, and sorry about all of the edits... I was rethinking my thoughts in real-time ;-)
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