Clever use of I/O redirection permits parsing and stitching together snippets of command output (see Example 14-7). This permits generating report and log files.
Example 19-12. Logging events
#!/bin/bash # logevents.sh # Author: Stephane Chazelas. # Used in ABS Guide with permission. # Event logging to a file. # Must be run as root (for write access in /var/log). ROOT_UID=0 # Only users with $UID 0 have root privileges. E_NOTROOT=67 # Non-root exit error. if [ "$UID" -ne "$ROOT_UID" ] then echo "Must be root to run this script." exit $E_NOTROOT fi FD_DEBUG1=3 FD_DEBUG2=4 FD_DEBUG3=5 # === Uncomment one of the two lines below to activate script. === # LOG_EVENTS=1 # LOG_VARS=1 log() # Writes time and date to log file. { echo "$(date) $*" >&7 # This *appends* the date to the file. # ^^^^^^^ command substitution # See below. } case $LOG_LEVEL in 1) exec 3>&2 4> /dev/null 5> /dev/null;; 2) exec 3>&2 4>&2 5> /dev/null;; 3) exec 3>&2 4>&2 5>&2;; *) exec 3> /dev/null 4> /dev/null 5> /dev/null;; esac FD_LOGVARS=6 if [[ $LOG_VARS ]] then exec 6>> /var/log/vars.log else exec 6> /dev/null # Bury output. fi FD_LOGEVENTS=7 if [[ $LOG_EVENTS ]] then # exec 7 >(exec gawk '{print strftime(), $0}' >> /var/log/event.log) # Above line fails in versions of Bash more recent than 2.04. Why? exec 7>> /var/log/event.log # Append to "event.log". log # Write time and date. else exec 7> /dev/null # Bury output. fi echo "DEBUG3: beginning" >&${FD_DEBUG3} ls -l >&5 2>&4 # command1 >&5 2>&4 echo "Done" # command2 echo "sending mail" >&${FD_LOGEVENTS} # Writes "sending mail" to file descriptor #7. exit 0 |