[Logcheck-devel] Bug#281646: bug in logtail regarding command line options

[john at interflora.com.au]

Package: logtail
Version: 1.2.28

We have recently upgraded a machine, and a number of scripts stopped working.
It appears that the way logtail(8) parses its command line has changed.

I do not know if this change occurred during the reimplementation from C to 
perl
(why was that done?  I would have thought that since C is generally both 
more portable and faster, and since the C was already written, it would be 
the preferred implementation?  *shrug*)
or at some other time.


The script fails on a command as follows:

/usr/sbin/logtail /var/log/kern.log /var/local/log_state


It gives the following output:

No logfile to read. Use -f switch.


I note that the -f switch is no longer in brackets on the man page, 
indicating that the author of the man page believes this switch to be 
mandatory.  In previous versions, this switch was optional.  I suspect that 
the man page was wrong, and now the utility has been reimplemented to match 
the man page, thus breaking scripts which previously worked.

I have not included kernel or hardware information (as requested in 
http://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting) since I do not think that they are 
relevant.

bfn,

John Newnham
john at interflora.com.au