i have been using elogbook V2.7.6 on my XP machine for a number of years. I ahve recently upgraded to windows 8 and the reply function on my entries has changed. I can now see the previous entrys in HTML format rather than the reply box which used to appear and also my ability to upload attachments and paste working linls is removed. Do i need to upgrade to the latest version and do i ned to back up my previous entries and how do i do this?

Thank you

> Also see this in ALPHA at CERN.
> The elogd we use is this: https://bitbucket.org/ritt/elog/commits/44800a769b99599db7620779e2142b1161c694fc?at=master

Okey, found it. waitpid() in my_shell() is not protected against the periodic alarm signal. (UNIX signals are evil).

In the following log file, notice the entries that have "wait_status" of "-1". Those would have generated zombies ("defunct" processes).

Nov 12 03:43:05 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4873, wait_status 4873, errno 2 (No such file or directory), status 0, command "convert  
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034304_xvthr04.pdf[0-7]' -thumbnail '600' '/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034304_xvthr04-%d.png'"
Nov 12 03:43:05 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4880, wait_status 4880, errno 2 (No such file or directory), status 0, command "identify -format '%wx%h' 
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034304_xvthr04.pdf[0]'"
Nov 12 03:43:19 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4890, wait_status 4890, errno 2 (No such file or directory), status 0, command "identify -format '%wx%h' 
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034304_xvthr04.pdf[0]'"
Nov 12 03:43:19 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4896, wait_status -1, errno 4 (Interrupted system call), status 0, command "convert  
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034318_xvthr05.pdf[0-7]' -thumbnail '600' '/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034318_xvthr05-%d.png'"
Nov 12 03:43:19 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4896, wait_status 4896, errno 4 (Interrupted system call), status 0, command "convert  
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034318_xvthr05.pdf[0-7]' -thumbnail '600' '/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034318_xvthr05-%d.png'"
Nov 12 03:43:20 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4904, wait_status 4904, errno 4 (Interrupted system call), status 0, command "identify -format '%wx%h' 
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034318_xvthr05.pdf[0]'"
Nov 12 03:43:48 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4922, wait_status 4922, errno 2 (No such file or directory), status 0, command "identify -format '%wx%h' 
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034304_xvthr04.pdf[0]'"
Nov 12 03:43:49 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4929, wait_status -1, errno 4 (Interrupted system call), status 1302603136, command "identify -format '%wx%h' 
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034318_xvthr05.pdf[0]'"
Nov 12 03:43:49 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4929, wait_status 4929, errno 4 (Interrupted system call), status 0, command "identify -format '%wx%h' 
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034318_xvthr05.pdf[0]'"
Nov 12 03:43:50 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4935, wait_status 4935, errno 2 (No such file or directory), status 0, command "convert  
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034348_xvthr06.pdf[0-7]' -thumbnail '600' '/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034348_xvthr06-%d.png'"
Nov 12 03:43:50 alphacpc05 elogd[4809]: WAITPID pid 4943, wait_status 4943, errno 2 (No such file or directory), status 0, command "identify -format '%wx%h' 
'/home/alpha/online/elog/logbooks/test/141112_034348_xvthr06.pdf[0]'"

The following code is verified to not generate zombies, please apply it to the master branch of elog:

alphadaq.cern.ch:~/packages/elog> git diff
diff --git a/src/elogd.c b/src/elogd.c
index 277ba30..2d9a848 100755
--- a/src/elogd.c
+++ b/src/elogd.c
@@ -892,14 +892,25 @@ int my_shell(char *cmd, char *result, int size)
 
 #ifdef OS_UNIX
    pid_t child_pid;
-   int fh, status, i;
+   int fh, status, i, wait_status;
    char str[1024];
 
    if ((child_pid = fork()) < 0)
       return 0;
    else if (child_pid > 0) {
       /* parent process waits for child */
-      waitpid(child_pid, &status, 0);
+
+      while (1) {
+         wait_status = waitpid(child_pid, &status, 0);
+
+         sprintf(str, "WAITPID pid %d, wait_status %d, errno %d (%s), status %d, command \"%s\"", child_pid, wait_status, errno, strerror(errno), status, cmd);
+         write_logfile(NULL, str);
+         eprintf("%s", str);
+
+         if (wait_status == -1 && errno == EINTR)
+            continue;
+         break;
+      }
 
       /* read back result */
       memset(result, 0, size);
diff --git a/src/git-revision.h b/src/git-revision.h

K.O.

Also see this in ALPHA at CERN. Eventually there are so many defunct elogd processes that the user runs out of "maxproc" quota and automatic submission 
of elog messages starts to fail. (and the users complain, reboot all computers, etc).

The elogd we use is this:
https://bitbucket.org/ritt/elog/commits/44800a769b99599db7620779e2142b1161c694fc?at=master

The best I can tell, the main elogd is spawning something but does not reap finished subprocesses (wait() syscall). My guess it is spawning ImageMagik stuff 
to create preview images.

K.O.

You are using the entry ID to sort your entries: there is no good way to insert a new entry ID, like 300.5

But you could sort your entries by other means, that allows you to insert entries later between existing entries.

I use for example a "when" attribute of type datetime. Here's an excerpt from the relevant part of my config file:

There is nothing within elog itself to insert entry 310 between 300 and 301.  If you allow branching in your logbook. make a second reply to entry 300, and add in the missing details.  That entry will always be there as a reply to 300, but not obviously between 300 and 301.

From this point, any way to improve matters will require editing of the log files (default location /usr/local/elog/logbooks).  I should warn that editing these files can cause problems, including elog to crash, and spotting your error can take a lot of effort.  I speak from experience. I suggest that you have a look at a few entries, the layout of the entries etc first, and if you're still up for it I'll give a quick spin on how to improve the tidyness of how your entires look with 310 inserted between 300 and 301.

I should add what I would write only applies for certain for linux users, as it is my OS of choice.

 I would like to put between two entries a new entry.

My Users forgot to put a entry, and now they would like to put a new entry between olders entries.

For Example:

We have 10 entries order by Id:

300

301

302

...

They want to put between the entry 300 and 301 a new entry.

Is possible to do this feature?

Thanks! 

IMPORTANT SECURITY ANNOUNCEMENT

Recently the POODLE vulnerability has been announced: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POODLE 

ELOG is prone to this vulnerability if it runs directly the SSL protocol and can be accessed from the internet. If ELOG runs behind an Apache proxy, and the Apache server has been correctly configured (disabled the SSLv23 protocols), ELOG is safe as well.

To fix this vulnerability, ELOG needs to be recompiled after the attached patch has been applied. This prohibits ELOG to fallback to the insecure SSLv2 & v3 protocols and only use the safe TLSv1 protocol.

If you do not know how to recompile ELOG, please do not run ELOG directly accessible from the internet until the next binary release has been published.

/Stefan Ritt

ELOG contains Kerberos authentication at a basic level. If I'm not mistaken, the Windows Domain controller is based on Kerberos. I do not have any 2008 or 2012 domain controller, so I cannot test, but it's worth giving it a try.

/Stefan