SALVAGELOG(5)

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✨ SALVAGELOG(5) — the AFS File Reference bestie drop ✨

okay so. this is the manual page for SalvageLog, and yes we're in section 5, and yes this is literally the receipt trail of everything the Salvager does. let's get into it 💅

💖 NAME 💖

SalvageLog — it traces what the Salvager gets up to. that's the whole vibe.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the SalvageLog file is a trace — a running record of Salvager (that's the salvager process, hi) operations happening on your local machine. it also spills all the tea about any error conditions it runs into along the way. it's giving "diary of a process that's seen things." 📓

here's the lore on how the file comes to exist:

  • if SalvageLog isn't already chilling in the /var/log/openafs directory when the Salvager starts? the process just makes it, and writes some initial start-up messages into it. born yesterday, already documenting. ✨
  • if there's already a file there? the Salvager renames it to SalvageLog.old — and yes, it will absolutely overwrite an existing SalvageLog.old if one is already sitting there. no hesitation. it does not ask. 🫣

now, the partition situation, because this is where it gets kinda iconic:

when the Salvager is salvaging an entire file server, it makes a separate log file for each partition it starts salvaging. those files get named SalvageLog.job — where job is a job number that will normally correspond to the index of the partition being salvaged, but is not guaranteed to. so like… usually yes, but don't come for me if it's not, bestie. 🙈

once salvaging of all the partitions is done, the Salvager gathers up all those partition-specific log files, appends them onto SalvageLog, and then removes the partition-specific files. clean up, slay, periodt. 🧹✨

more facts, no cap:

  • the file is in ASCII format. retro but functional.
  • administrators listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file can use the bos getlog command to display what's inside it. 👑
  • alternatively, you can log onto the file server machine and crack it open with a text editor, or a file display command like the UNIX cat command.
  • by default, the mode bits on the SalvageLog file grant the required "r" (read) permission to all users. everybody gets to read. very generous of it.
⚠️ big important caveat, do not skip this one: the Salvager records operations only as it completes them, and it cannot recover from failures by reviewing the file. so the log is not a time machine, it's a receipt. the contents are useful for administrative evaluation of process failures and other problems. that's the job. that's the whole job. 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read those too, iykyk 🫶

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

this documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. it was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell. shoutout to the conversion girlies, fr fr. 💜

and that's the whole page!! brought to you by OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, filed under SALVAGELOG(5). stay logged, stay slaying 👑💖

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