Adding custom log locations to the OS X console application

Question

After searching online, the best solution I've found so far is to just make a symbolic link in either "/Library/logs/" or "~/Library/logs/" to get it to show up in the Console application.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to add a new directory or log file to the "root" level directly under the "LOG FILES" section in the console.

Here's a quick screenshot:

OS X Console

score 42 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 04 '17 at 19:04

42

There is one way to get your log files into the console.

You can add a symlink to the log file or log directory to one of the directories in the list. The directory ~/Library/Logs seems like the logical choice for adding your own log files.

For myself I wanted easy access to apache2 logs. I installed apache2 using macports and the default log file is located at /opt/local/apache2/logs.

Thus all I did was create the symlink to that directory.

# cd ~/Library/Logs
# ln -s /opt/local/apache2/logs/ apache2

Now I can easily use the console.app to get to the logs.

edited Jan 04 '17 at 19:04

phs

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answered Feb 07 '09 at 02:33

Tao Zhyn

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It looks like Mountain Lion removes this feature. Console doesn't display symlinks at all, any more. – James Chevalier Oct 11 '12 at 13:44
This worked for me in Mountain Lion. Only problem was that I had to manually grant read access to those files before they were readable in Consoe.app – Nic Cottrell Dec 17 '12 at 12:03
Works for me in 10.8.4 – Elliott B Sep 03 '13 at 17:32
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On OSX 10.9 I can't have a symbolic link to a folder, but a folder contains symbolic link for each files works. I use it for MAMP logs – mems Dec 16 '13 at 14:59
This worked for Single file but not the folder. It does not show my entire Xampp Log folder – pal4life Jun 23 '14 at 19:21
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Doesn't seem to work on macOS 10.12... Tried for both folders and single files (MongoDB log files). – Gustavo Bezerra Oct 28 '16 at 09:06
@NicCottrell My symlink has `r` for all and it does not work in Console.app. – Glutexo Mar 07 '18 at 16:43

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

8

My solution for macOS Sierra:

First and last step, you must create a hard link from your source (log) directory into (as example) one of existing official log directories, you can seen in console.app.

I take my ~/Library/Logs directory for that.

hln /usr/local/var/log /Users/dierk/Library/Logs/_usr_local_var_log

Cross-posting this great tool for creating hardlinks originally posted by Sam.

Short intro:

To install Hardlink, ensure you've installed homebrew, then run:

brew install hardlink-osx

Once installed, create a hard link with:

hln [source] [destination]

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

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answered Feb 22 '17 at 16:40

Dierk

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Can't try it myself as my logs are on different device and I get "hln: Cross-device link" but I think this is the only same-device solution. – George May 19 '17 at 16:56
You don’t want to create a hard-link to a directory. https://askubuntu.com/a/525129 – Glutexo Mar 07 '18 at 16:48

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 27 '09 at 06:30

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I actually just came across this option that worked perfectly for me:

Actually if you open terminal and...

$ cd /Library/Logs

then sym-link to your new log directory. eg i want my chroot'ed apache logs as 'www'

$ ln -s /chroot/apache/private/var/log www

then re-open Console.app

drill down into /Library/Logs and you will find your sym-linked directory.

;-)

Mohclips.

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=35680

answered Aug 27 '09 at 06:30

Chris Hough

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Any idea on how to get the log files with columns like the other OS logs? – Czar Dec 17 '10 at 15:49

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 21 '15 at 11:26

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Since Mavericks, symlink behavior as change so "ln - s" doesn't work anymore. use hardlink-osx instead to create an hardlink to your directory (may be installed via homebrew)

answered Sep 21 '15 at 11:26

Airmoi

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Although this definitely works, creating a hard-link is usually a bad idea. See https://askubuntu.com/a/525129 – Glutexo Mar 07 '18 at 16:44

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 15 '15 at 11:09

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Very old post I know but, this is the only way I could get it to work.

cd /Library/Logs
sudo mkdir log_files
sudo ln -s /Users/USERNAME/Sites/website/logs/* log_files

answered Oct 15 '15 at 11:09

2Steaks

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score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Feb 12 '21 at 19:47

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In mac os 10.11, you may not be able to link to folder of logs, but instead you need to link to each log of logs folder in side console.

ln -s /opt/local/apache2/logs/error_log ~/Library/Logs/Apache2/error_log

edited Feb 12 '21 at 19:47

jimtut

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answered Jul 06 '16 at 12:49

user6556252

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered May 21 '09 at 20:38

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In Terminal run this command... append any log file directories you want to add

defaults write com.apple.Console LogFolderPaths -array '~/Library/Logs/' '/Library/Logs/' '/var/log/' '/opt/local/var/log/'

answered May 21 '09 at 20:38

Clintm

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This didn't seem to work for me on Leopard 1.5.7, am I missing something? – Ted Naleid May 22 '09 at 03:03
Sorry I thumbed it up before trying. That default doesn't exist. – sholsinger Sep 03 '09 at 02:10

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Nov 08 '17 at 11:07

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I was able to hardlink the files into ~/Library/logs by running:

ln /usr/local/var/logs/postgres.log ~/Library/logs

Notice the absence of -s.

No luck for directories though. OSX Sierra 10.12.6

answered Nov 08 '17 at 11:07

Jacob Kjeldahl

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 18 '11 at 06:43

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You can just open any text file with console.app and it will add and keep it. Folder's though, no luck on that yet.

answered Aug 18 '11 at 06:43

deiga

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Tobias · Answer 10 · 2011-02-11T00:23:18.683

Just tried to do something similar.

I enter this in terminal, while the Console.app was running.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/var/log/apache2
sudo mv /private/var/log/apache2 /usr/local/var/log/apache2/apache2-old
sudo ln -s /usr/local/var/log/apache2 /private/var/log/apache2

Now whenever I open the Console.app it crashes.

Really wish there was a way of adding log files in the files. You CAN do it by dragging and dropping a folder onto the Console.app (given it a directory path as an argument), but the added folder only displays its immediate contents and doesn't allow for recursively descending into folders.

---------EDIT BELOW----------

Nevermind I stupidly did something like this leading to infinite recursion in Console.app

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/var/log/apache2
sudo ln -s /private/var/log/apache2/apache2 /usr/local/var/log/apache2
sudo mv /private/var/log/apache2 /usr/local/var/log/apache2/apache2-old
sudo ln -s /usr/local/var/log/apache2 /private/var/log/apache2

score -4 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 28 '08 at 09:42

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I don't believe it's possible.

If you're generating log files, you should generate them into one of the standard locations anyway, so this won't be an issue.

answered Sep 28 '08 at 09:42

Chris Hanson

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The standard locations according to Apple's Console.app don't include Homebrew's /usr/local/var/log, which I'd call pretty standard for anyone who uses the command line in OS X. – Carl G Aug 08 '15 at 16:05
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Homebrew is a third-party add-on, it's not part of the OS. It shouldn't be defining its own log locations, it should be using the standard locations just like everything else. – Chris Hanson Aug 08 '15 at 17:57
All kinds of product use non-standard log locations, most commonly own their own application folders. Try Glassfish for instance. – Tim Maher-De Troyer Jul 14 '17 at 11:35
That means Console won’t pick them up. They should use a standard location if possible, so they’re picked up by Console. – Chris Hanson Jul 19 '17 at 19:34

Adding custom log locations to the OS X console application

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