ZYPPER-LOG(8)

📦
version 1.14.102 · 11 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 ZYPPER-LOG(8) — the zypper logfile reader, bestie edition

okay so first things first: this is a page from the zypper manual, section 8 (system administration commands, iykyk). it's called zypper-log and honestly? she's a little icon. let's get into it ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

zypper-log [OPTIONS] [PID]

that's it. options, then optionally a PID. simple. slay.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

zypper-log reads zypper's logfiles for you 💖. and not just the plain ones — she also handles rotated logfiles, and she'll happily open plain, xz, gz and bz2-compressed files. versatile queen 🎀

by default she reads /var/log/zypper.log and shows you a list of all the zypper invocations in there, like this:

$ zypper-log
Reading /var/log/zypper.log ............... DONE

TIME              PID    VER      CMD
2013-10-15 11:01  2195   1.11.14  /usr/bin/zypper se spell
2013-10-15 11:03  2703   1.11.14  /usr/bin/zypper in aspell-en aspell-ispell aspell-de
2013-10-15 15:00  22463  1.11.14  /usr/bin/zypper lr -u
2013-10-15 15:00  22479  1.11.14  /usr/bin/zypper lr -s

look at that table. gorgeous. no notes. 👑

and when you provide a pid? oh you get the complete log for that specific zypper run. the whole thing. main character energy for that one process 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -d YYYY-MM-DD — only look at zypper runs from the day you specify. date format is exactly YYYY-MM-DD, ngl don't freestyle it 💅
  • -l FILE — only read this logfile. one file, your choice, that's the vibe 🦋
  • -r NUMBER — also read the NUMBER latest rotated logfiles. so like, the freshest leftovers 🔥
  • --help — prints the help and dips. that's it, that's the whole job 🙈

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • /var/log/zypper.log — the zypper default logfile. the OG. the one she reads if you don't tell her otherwise 💖
  • /var/log/YaST2/y2log — so YaST uses a similar logfile format, which means you should be able to scan the YaST logfiles too — just use the -l switch. crossover episode, we love to see it ⭐
bestie note: "should be able to" — that's the page's wording, not mine. it's a similar format, so, y'know. 🤷‍♀️

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Dominik Heidler dheidler@suse.de — thank you for your service, king 🫡💜

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

zypper(8) — go read the big one, she's the whole reason this little reader exists 💫

and that's the page!! ✨ written for SUSE Linux, version/date 2026-10-27, and footer says ZYPPER-LOG(8) on both ends because symmetry is cute 🎀 ok bye bestie, go read some logs 💖🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from