Logstalgia(1)

💖 Logstalgia(1) — the group chat version 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the Logstalgia(1) manual page, from the General Commands Manual section. this is the whole thing, vibes intact, facts untouched. let's go 💅

---

✨ NAME ✨

Logstalgia — a web server access log visualization tool. that's it. that's the girl. she takes your boring log files and makes them aesthetic 🌈

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

logstalgia [options] logfile

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

logstalgia is a visualization tool that replays or streams web server access logs as a retro arcade game simulation. like, your Apache log becomes Pong. for real. it's giving arcade cabinet energy and honestly? iconic. 👑

---

💀 REQUIREMENTS 💀

logstalgia's display is rendered using OpenGL, so you need a 3D accelerated video card to run it. no GPU, no game, sorry bestie 😭

Logstalgia supports several standardized access.log formats used by web servers such as Apache and Nginx (peep the SUPPORTED LOG FORMATS section below, it's right there).

and like — because logstalgia is designed to playback logs in real time, you need a log from a fairly busy webserver to get interesting results. we're talking 100s of requests each minute. a sleepy little blog with three hits a day? she'll just sit there. tragic. 🙈

---

💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -f — Fullscreen. big screen energy.
• -WIDTHxHEIGHT — Set the window size. if -f is also supplied, it'll attempt to set the video mode to this too. add a ! to make the window non-resizable.
• --screen SCREEN — Set the number of the screen to display on.
• --high-dpi — Request a high DPI display when creating the window.

on some platforms, like MacOS, the window resolution is specified in points instead of pixels. the --high-dpi flag may be required to access some higher resolutions.

e.g. requesting a high DPI 800x600 window may produce a window that is 1600x1200 pixels. math is math. ✨

• --window-position XxY — Initial window position on your desktop, which may be made up of multiple monitors.

heads up: this will override the screen setting, so don't specify both. pick a lane bestie 🫶

• --frameless — Frameless window. she's naked. no border. 💅
• --title TITLE — Set a title.
• -b, --background — Background colour in hex.
• -x, --full-hostnames — Show full request ip/hostname.
• -s, --simulation-speed — Simulation speed. defaults to 1 (1 second-per-second).
• -p, --pitch-speed — Speed balls travel across the screen (defaults to 0.15).
• -u, --update-rate — Page Summary update speed. defaults to 5 (5 seconds).
• -g

name,(HOST|URI|CODE)=regex[,SEP=chars][,MAX=n][,ABBR=n],percent[,colour]

Creates a new named summarizer group for requests for which a specified attribute (HOST, URI or response CODE) matches a regular expression. percent specifies a vertical percentage of screen to use.

SEP=chars can specify a list of separator characters (e.g. /) to split on. the default separator is /.

MAX=n specifies the max depth into the path to be displayed. (e.g. MAX=1 would show only root directory names of paths). by default there is 0 (no limit).

ABBR=n specifies the minimum depth at which to allow partially abbreviated strings. the default is 0 (allow). -1 to disallow.

a colour may optionally be supplied in hexadecimal format (eg FF0000 for red) which will be applied to all labels and request balls matched to the group.

Examples:

-g "HTML,URI=html?$,30"
-g "Lan,HOST=^192,30"
-g "Success,CODE=^[23],30"

if no groups are specified, the default groups are Images (image files), CSS (.css files) and Scripts (.js files).

if there is enough space remaining, a catch-all group 'Misc' will appear as the last group. she's the understudy, always ready 🎀

• --address-separators CHARS — List of address separator characters. defaults to '.:'.
• --address-max-depth DEPTH — Maximum depth to display in address summarizer. 0 for no maximum.
• --address-abbr-depth DEPTH — Minimum abbreviation depth of address summarizer. 0 to always allow abbreviations, -1 to never abbreviate.
• --path-separators CHARS — Default list of path separator characters. defaults to /.
• --path-max-depth DEPTH — Default maximum path depth shown in the summarizer. 0 for no maximum.
• --path-abbr-depth DEPTH — Default minimum path abbreviation depth. 0 to always allow abbreviations, -1 to never abbreviate.
• --paddle-mode MODE — Paddle mode (pid, vhost, single).
  • vhost — separate paddle for each virtual host in the log file.
  • pid — separate paddle for each process id in the log file.
  • single — single paddle (the default).
• --paddle-position POSITION — Paddle position as a fraction of the view width (0.25 - 0.75).
• --display-fields REQUEST_FIELDS — List of one or more request fields that are shown when the user hovers the mouse over an individual request:
  • path — the path of the resource requested
  • hostname — hostname or IP address
  • response_size — size of the response in bytes
  • response_code — response code
  • method — method
  • protocol — protocol
  • timestamp — timestamp of request
  • referrer — referrer URL of the request
  • user_agent — user agent
  • vhost — virtual host name
  • log_entry — full log entry
  • pid — the pid of the instance that handled the request

separate multiple fields with commas (eg "path,hostname")

• --sync — Read from STDIN, ignoring entries before the current time.
• --from, --to "YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss +tz" — Show entries from a specific time period.

if a time zone offset isn't specified, the local time zone is used.

example accepted formats:

"2012-06-30"
"2012-06-30 12:00"
"2012-06-30 12:00:00 +12"

• --start-position POSITION — Begin at some position in the log file (between 0.0 and 1.0).
• --stop-position POSITION — Stop at some position.
• --no-bounce — No bouncing. the balls just do not bounce. she's calm now 🧚
• --hide-response-code — Hide response code.
• --hide-paddle — Hide paddle.
• --hide-paddle-tokens — Hide paddle tokens shown in multi-paddle modes.
• --hide-url-prefix — Hide URL protocol and hostname prefix of requests.
• --disable-auto-skip — Disable automatic skipping of empty time periods.
• --disable-progress — Disable the progress bar.
• --disable-glow — Disable the glow effect. 😔
• --font-size SIZE — Font size.
• --glow-duration — Duration of the glow (between 0.0 and 1.0).
• --glow-multiplier — Adjust the amount of glow.
• --glow-intensity — Intensity of the glow.
• -o, --output-ppm-stream FILE — Write frames as PPM to a file ('-' for STDOUT).
• -r, --output-framerate FPS — Framerate of output (used with --output-ppm-stream).
• --load-config CONFIG_FILE — Load a config file.
• --save-config CONFIG_FILE — Save a config file with the current options.
• --detect-changes — Automatically reload config file when it is modified. she's watching. always watching 👀
• logfile — The path to the access log file to read, or '-' if you wish to supply log entries via STDIN.

---

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

watch an example access.log using the default settings:

logstalgia /usr/share/logstalgia/example.log

watch the live access.log, starting from the most recent batch of entries in the log (requires tail). note that the '-' at the end is required so logstalgia knows it needs to read from STDIN:

tail -f /var/log/apache2/access.log | logstalgia -

to follow the log in real time, use the --sync option. this will start reading from the next entry received on STDIN:

tail -f /var/log/apache2/access.log | logstalgia --sync

watch a remote access.log via ssh:

ssh user@example.com tail -f /var/log/apache2/access.log | logstalgia --sync

---

👑 SUPPORTED LOG FORMATS 👑

Logstalgia supports the following standardized log formats used by web servers like Apache and Nginx:

• NCSA Common Log Format (CLF)

"%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b"

• NCSA Common Log Format with Virtual Host

"%v %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b"

• NCSA extended/combined log format

"%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-agent}i\""

• NCSA extended/combined log format with Virtual Host

"%v %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-agent}i\""

the process id (%P), or some other identifier, may be included as an additional field at the end of the entry. this can be used with '--paddle-mode pid', where a separate paddle will be created for each unique value in this field. one paddle per girlie 🏓✨

---

🎀 CUSTOM LOG FORMAT 🎀

Logstalgia now supports a pipe ('|') delimited custom log file format:

• timestamp — unix timestamp of the request date.
• hostname — hostname of the request
• path — path requested
• response_code — the response code from the webserver (eg 200)
• response_size — the size of the response in bytes

the following are optional:

• success — 1 or 0 to indicate if successful
• response_colour — response colour in hexidecial (#FFFFFF) format
• referrer url — the referrer url
• user agent — the user agent
• virtual host — the virtual host (to use with --paddle-mode vhost)
• pid — process id or some other identifier (--paddle-mode pid)

if success or response_colour are not provided, they will be derived from the response_code using the normal HTTP conventions (code < 400 = success). no cap 🫶

---

🔥 RECORDING VIDEOS 🔥

see the guide on the homepage for examples of recording videos with Logstalgia:

https://github.com/acaudwell/Logstalgia/wiki/Videos

---

to be continued, bestie… part 2 incoming 💜

---

🎮 INTERFACE 🎮

okay so first thing you'll notice: top-left corner has a clock, and it gets set from the first log entry read, like, that's its whole origin story. after that it just keeps ticking forward according to your simulation speed (-s). it's giving time-lapse but make it ✨aesthetic✨.

then down in the bottom-right corner there's a counter, and she's keeping receipts: that's the number of requests displayed since the start of the current session. not since forever, just since this session. periodt.

---

hit space literally whenever and the simulation pauses/unpauses. and when you're paused?? main character mode — you can use the mouse to inspect the detail of individual requests 🦋. like zoom in on one lil guy and see what he's about.

you can also click on summarizer group entries on the left and right sides of the screen to filter down to just the requests matching that entry. and when you're done with the filter? click the filter description to remove it. no cap, that's the whole thing 💅.

---

⌨️ Interactive keyboard commands ⌨️

• (q) — Debug Information
• (c) — Displays Logstalgia logo
• (n) — Jump forward in time to next log entry.
• (+-) — Adjust simulation speed.
• (<>) — Adjust pitch speed.
• (F5) — Reload config
• (F11) — Window frame toggle
• (F12) — Screenshot
• (Alt+Enter) — Fullscreen toggle
• (Ctrl+S) — Save config
• (Home/End) — Adjust address summarizer maximum depth
• (Page Up/Down) — Adjust group summarizer maximum depth
• (Ctrl+Home/End) — Adjust address summarizer abbreviation depth
• (Ctrl+Page Up/Down) — Adjust group summarizer abbreviation depth
• (ESC) — Quit

bestie the (ESC) one is right there at the bottom and she WILL close the whole thing, so like, know that about her 🙈

---

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Written by Andrew Caudwell 🫶

Project Homepage: http://logstalgia.io

---

💜 COPYRIGHT 💜

Copyright (C) 2008 Andrew Caudwell (acaudwell@gmail.com)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

ok real talk, that all-caps warranty bit is not a vibe killer, it's the actual legal tea — no warranty, so don't come for anyone if it goes sideways 😭

---

🌸 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 🌸

Catalyst IT (catalyst.net.nz)

For supporting the development and promotion of Logstalgia!

---

and that's a wrap, bestie 🎀 this whole thing is the Logstalgia(1) manual page — that's the source, version and date all chillin' in the footer like the credits at the end of a movie you actually watched all the way through. go read some logs, you icon 💖✨