Cannot specify customized filename for output logging (-L flag)

[Demon]

The screen package needs to change the -L switch feature so that a screenlog.0 filename can be given a specific directory/filename output such as doing:

screen -L /tmp/screenlog.1 (2, 3, etc)

Otherwise in order to run multiple screens with -L they each have to be executed from different directories, because they'd all output to the same screenlog.0 file.

The only alternative workaround to this is doing:

screen -dmS workspace | tee screen.log

or

screen -dmS workspace && screen -S workspace -X stuff $'<command> | tee screen.log\n'

Conclusion, To recode the -L switch to allow to explicitly specify custom filename/directory location for screenlog.0 output ?

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Hi Ader,
IMHO that is not a bug in Ubuntu but an upstream feature request.

Thou there are certain workarounds [1] already that might be better then the | tee.

If really needed, having multiple screenrc files ready and pointing to either one defining the outputfile is rather close to what you want.

If -L really shall get an argument I'd really think you have to request (or contribute) so upstream.

[1]: https://serverfault.com/questions/248193/specifying-a-log-name-for-screen-output-without-relying-on-screenrc

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. I appreciate the quality of this bug report and I'm sure it'll be helpful to others experiencing the same issue.

This sounds like an upstream bug to me. If this can be confirmed as an upstream bug (or actually feature request), the best route to getting it fixed in Ubuntu in this case would be to file an upstream bug if you're able to do that. Otherwise, I'm not sure what we can do directly in Ubuntu to fix the problem.

If you do end up filing an upstream bug, please link to it from here. Thanks!

Otherwise I hope the workarounds I posted above will make that more comfortable for you to manage multiple screens with logging.

[Demon (demonrx)]

Hello, Thank you for such expeditious response to this matter, very appreciated. I'm also in agreement with you that this isn't 100% a bug, but rather a feature lacking in this software. So I'm not sure this should be reported as an upstream bug, but rather a feature request, as you stated.

Let me know what you think the next best course of action should be.

I took a look at the workaround you posted, It's ok, but for example the project that my team is working on is ultimately creating an environment that's goal is to test 100 clients operating at the same time (20 Clients/Screen sessions per host) this would be tedious trying to setup individual scripts/configuration files, as opposed to using the " | tee <filename> " method I've implemented for the time being.

This is why I'm trying to find the best avenue for having this addressed, as the improvement that needs to be made is simply having the screen package be able to do:

screen -L /path/to/logfile

this would make life so much simpler :)

I'm also not familiar with filing upstream bugs/feature requests, etc. This is my first Ubuntu bug filing experience with this matter. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thank you !

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for screen (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]