report browser and error_logger

[Chandrashekhar Mullaparthi]

Yes it is typical in real OTP apps. We use run_erl to start our production
nodes - and if you need to connect to the shell - we use to_erl. We can then
use all interactive commands of rb. rb can also redirect all output to a
specified file. YOu can either specify options in rb:start/1 or use
rb:start_log/1.

We have another way of looking at the error logger reports on a live node.
We have an application which installs a error_logger event handler so that
it receives all error reports. Another process accepts connections on a
socket and writes all error reports to that socket. So we just telnet to
that port and we see all error reports. 

hope this helps.
Chandru

-----Original Message-----
From: Hal Snyder [mailto:hal@REDACTED]
Sent: 9 January 2002 16:15
To: erlang-questions@REDACTED
Subject: report browser and error_logger


I think I am missing something obvious. The error_logger looks like a
very useful thing for tracking events in OTP and in one's own
applications. 

I think the way to use it is thus:

  - add the sasl app to your .rel file
  - tune error file settings by setting sasl_error_logger,
    error_logger_mf_dir, and so forth in your .config file
  - write messages with error_logger:error_msg/1 and
    error_logger:info_msg/1
  - view results with rb: commands

1. Is the above typical in real OTP apps?

2. Is it common to use rb: interactively (not just start_log to a
file) in a production environment? If so, how?

Surely you don't leave an erlang shell open on a production node. (I
suspect that most production nodes run erl .... -detached.) But, the
interactive commands in rb: write to tty. So, in order to run them,
you need an erlang shell on the node in question. Attaching from
another node via Ctrl-g r [node] does not give you access to the
interactive commands of rb:, which still want to go to the stdout of
the original node. There is mention in the docs of copying log files
from a running area to somewhere else and using an offline node (with
error_logger configured to read/write in that copy area) to look at
the copies. But that sounds very awkward. How do real OTP apps do
this?

Thanks!



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