[wpkg-users] wpkg.js crashing?

[Rainer Meier]

Hi all,

Sorry Falko, forgot to reply to the list...

Falko Trojahn wrote:
> Don't think so, but all debug output goes to eventlog then -> this is
> why eventlog is filled so quickly.

Yes, quiet mode just makes WPKG not to print anything on STDOUT (except 
if /printStatus is enabled for WPKG 1.1).


> Even on the 2nd run (!) after cleaning event log (standard size) I get
> this error:
> 
> cscript \\server\install\wpkg.js /synchronize /debug /quiet
> Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host, Version 5.6
> Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
> 
> \\server\install\wpkg.js(4527, 4) (null): Die Ereignisprotokolldatei ist
> voll.

Well, I would consider this more to be a M$ but - event log is much too 
small and does not auto-purge/auto-archive if full. This can be 
configured - but it's not the default setting.

I am simply astonished about this ridiculous small amount of space 
Microsoft seems to assign to the event logs (512kB each) I wonder how 
many Unix admins would limit /var/log/messages to 512kB - most of them 
reserve several hundred or even some GB of space for the logs at /var/log.

I just checked on Vista and the default settings seem to have changed:
Maximum log size (KB): 20480
(x) Overwrite events as needed (oldest events first)

So even Microsoft seems to have learned something: Logging is important 
and helps fixing bugs much faster. And event log should not block new 
entries when it is "full" since the latest entries are usually the most 
valuable ones. Unfortunately these settings are not default in Windows 
XP. I will release an updated WPKG script soon which handles such errors 
properly with a kind of "fallback" mode.


> Wouldn't it make sense to completely disable sending of debug entries to
> eventlog in case of /quiet switch, instead creating only a hint in event
> log where the actual log  file (containing the debug entries) can be found?

No.
Quit mode was intended exactly to write all output to event log instead 
of STDOUT. This includes debug output in case of /debug flag.

If you don't want to have debug output in the event log just do not use 
the /debug flag ;-). Well you might complain now that you want to see 
debug output within the log file. Sure, this is exactly why the logLevel 
parameter was introduced. You can enable debug level logging within the 
log file even if you DO NOT specify the /debug switch. As a result you 
will see only info, warning and error messages in event log but full 
debug log within the log file - just don't use /debug if you don't want 
to see debug output ons STDOUT/EventLog.

br,
Rainer