Two things are required to get elog (tested with 2.8.1) to compile on OpenBSD (tested on OpenBSD 4.8):

Step 1 - Patch Makefile:

--- Makefile~ Mon Jan 24 21:38:09 2011
+++ Makefile Mon Jan 24 21:42:57 2011
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@
 RM = /usr/bin/rm -f
 endif

+ifeq ($(OSTYPE),OpenBSD)
+LIBS += -lcrypto
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(OSTYPE),Darwin)
 OSTYPE=darwin
 endif

Step 2 - Use "gmake" instead of the standard "make" to build.

 Hi!

I have attached a small script which can process an e-mail and submit this e-mail as a log entry. This is alpha at the moment but if you have suggestions or find bugs please let me know. 

The easiest way to process this is to use the ".forward" file in unix. If this file contains the line:

| "/usr/bin/python /home/tardis/elogmail/process.py --log /home/tardis/elogmail/mail.log -r -u http://localhost:8080/TARDIS -a Category=email -a Type=Log"

This will pipe the incoming mail to the e-log running on the localhost with the experiment TARDIS. Attributes can be set using the "-a" switch like in the elog command line utility. To get help with all the options please run the script with the command:

python process.py -h

which will give help.

Any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, and I will do my best to help.

Thanks again to Stefan for a great application.

Best wishes,

Stuart

The elogd.init script that ships in the elog distribution is Linux centric.
 This script is written to work in a generic Unix environment under 'sh' -
no frills!

#ifdef HP-UX
  setuid(...)
#else
  seteuid(...)
#endif

Following entry was written by Richard Stamper. I moved it here for persistency:

On the matter of automatic calculation of fields, it is possible using included javascript but you have to do the work yourself.  For example, we have a log which computes responsivity as the ratio of a photocurrent and optical power.  With log attributes called "Photocurrent", "Optical Power" and "Responsivity" there is a file in the logbooks directory called photomixer_javascript.html containing something like:

<script>

if (document.form1.Photocurrent) {
  document.form1.Photocurrent.onchange = new Function(
    "mod();"+
    "var power = parseFloat(document.form1.Optical_Power.value);"+
    "var current = parseFloat(document.form1.Photocurrent.value);"+
    "if (!isNan(power) && !isNan(current) && power != 0.0) {"+
    "  document.form1.Responsivity.value = Math.round(current/power*100)/100.0"+
    "}"
    );
  document.form1.Optical_Power.onchange = document.form1.Photocurrent.onchange;
}

</script>

and the elogd.cfg file includes

Bottom text = photomixer_javascript.html

for the relevant log.

The assignments to the onchange handlers are guarded because this javascript is included on all pages for that log, including the list pages where there is no such field as Photocurrent, (or Optical_Power) and the event handler function is defined dynamically for the same reason.

Dear ELOG users,

starting with SVN revision 2328, custom input forms are implemented. This allows application specific formats for check lists etc. In our specific case we had to implement a shift check list, which was quite long. Furthermore the check list should be optimized for an iPad, which we take in the field and record various checks and readings (in our case some gas pressure gauges at the PSI particle accelerator). Since the standard ELOG interface was too inflexible, a completely hand-written form was needed. The form can be activated by the new configuration options Custom New Form, Custom Edit Form and Custom Display Form, one for a new entry, an entry to edit and and entry to display. In our case we used the same form for all three cases. This is how the shift check list looks under the Safari Browser on a PC:

And here is how it looks on the iPad:

Each section can be collapsed and expanded (blue arrows at the left), and various internal checks are made before the check list can be submitted.

Implementing such forms is however more something for the advanced user, since you have to hand-write HTML with CSS and JavaScript code. It can then however be a powerful method for check lists. Please find in the attachments the elogd.cfg configuration for that logbook and the shiftcheck.html source code file. It is a bit complicated since the page is a static page, elogd just serves it from the file. This requires all the dynamic functions to be implemented inside the HTML file with JavaScript. To display an entry for example, the JavaScript loads the raw data with the "?cmd=Download" command and the populates the form fields. The collapsing and expanding is done by using CSS properties. The integrated style sheet was optimized for the rendering on an iPad. Rather large fonts were chosen so that the items can be checked easily with your finger tips. Various parameters are sent between the browser and the elogd program via hidden fields and cookies. So only something for experts! But if you go through the effort and hand-write the form, it can be very handy. Note that you have to upgrade to SVN revision 2328 for the three new options.

--- Makefile~ Mon Jan 24 21:38:09 2011
+++ Makefile Mon Jan 24 21:42:57 2011
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@
 RM = /usr/bin/rm -f
 endif

+ifeq ($(OSTYPE),OpenBSD)
+LIBS += -lcrypto
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(OSTYPE),Darwin)
 OSTYPE=darwin
 endif

Thanks, I added your patch to the distribution. 

Have you tried

Subst <attribute> = $utcdate

Probably you need a dedicated attribute of type "datetime" and have to play with the "Date format" options.