You system administrators out there know just how grumpy some applications can get when the disk space runs out. Indexes get out of sync and critical things can crash in ways that make them nearly impossible to recover.
I have suggested that the default configuration be changed to in four ways to stop this from happening. Neither solution is complex and I would prefer to see both implemented. Both would stop this from happening and crashing machines. New Suggestion: Make each application write it's own log file to /var/log (where everything else logs) instead of the individual user's home directory. Why? ONE - That will make it a LOT easier for us to figure out which applications are misbehaving and it in what ways so that the developers on other projects will start getting meaningful bug reports. TWO - I usually put /var/log on it's own partition specifically so that if something looses it mind and starts spewing, it can't chew up all the free disk space for the entire system. ___________________________ Previously Submitted: One: Until a more permanent fix is found, the errors should simply be routed to /dev/null UNLESS the user enables the log file. The text in config file can be altered to include instructions and a lines to un- comment/comment out to change this. It should be included with appropriate warnings like "YOU MUST MONITOR YOUR FREE DISK SPACE FREQUENTLY". This is so simple that it actually requires NO change to the existing code base. Two: The configuration file should cap the log file size at a specified limit. If Microsuck's Winbloze can do it, surely the infinitely more talented programmers here can handle that. Once the max file size is reached, it starts writing over itself. Three: When errors do repeat - e.g. when stuff starts spewing - instead of logging each error over and over, log something like "This error repeats 147 more times" . That saves 147 error messages. Do that for each process that logs to that file and it will grow much more slowly. Again, if the Borg Collective re-re's can figure it out, I'm sure the programmers here are more than up to the challenge. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/870138 Title: .xsession-errors fills hard drive until system crashes To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/xorg-server/+bug/870138/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
