Most log files are in plain text format. You can view them with
any text editor such as Vi or Emacs. Some log files are readable by all users
on the system; however, root privileges are required to read most
log files.
To view system log files in an interactive, real-time
application, use the Log Viewer. To
start the application, go to
(the main menu on the panel) => => , or type the
command system-logviewer at a shell
prompt.
The application only displays log files that exist; thus, the
list might differ from the one shown in Figure
36-1.
To filter the contents of the log file for keywords, type the
keyword(s) in the Filter for text field,
and click Filter. Click Reset to reset the contents.
By default, the currently viewable log file is refreshed every
30 seconds. To change the refresh rate, select =>
from the pulldown menu. The window shown in Figure
36-2 appears. In the Log Files tab,
click the up and down arrows beside the refresh rate to change it.
Click Close to return to the main window.
The refresh rate is changed immediately. To refresh the currently
viewable file manually, select
=> or press [Ctrl]-[R].
On the Log Files tab in the Preferences,
the log file locations can be modified. Select the log file from
the list, and click the Edit button. Type
the new location of the log file or click the Browse button to locate the file location using a
file selection dialog. Click OK to return
to the preferences, and click Close to
return to the main window.
