At some point, in the last week or so, I upgraded the debian-unstable
version (r1459-1) of elog.  Now, PostScript files (as attachments) are
displayed (shown in ascii text, instead of just showing the link).  

Is there an option in the elog.cfg to only display certain files (like .gif
or .jpg).

[...]
> Probably it is fine to display only files ending in '.txt' per default.
> In addition a file that has more than say 1000 lines should probably 
> also not be displayed (as default, optional OK).  

No, '.txt' would definitely not be enough for me. I'm using elog to log all
administration of our network. In many cases, I simply attach a configuration
file. All those files are plain ASCII and none of them end in '.txt' - and I
would most definitely like them to be displayed inline like they are now. In
fact, this change was the main reason for me to upgrade to 2.5.4

Maybe a configuration option or a "display attachment" button would be the
best solution, then?

Cheerio,

Thomas

> Hmmm.  I like the little buttons with the pull-downs for selections. 
> Unfortunately, I don't get that.  With a config of:
> 
> Find Menu commands = New, Find, Select, Config, Change password, Logout, Help, Admin
> Menu commands = Back, New, Edit, Delete, Reply, Find, Move To, Copy To, Config, Help

Unfortunately menu commands are case sensitive, so you need a "Move to" instead a "Move
To". I changed this in the code so future versions will not be case sensitive any more.

> BTW, on a log entry screen, is the appropriate behavior for the "Move To" option
> to show multiple "Move To" links (one for each logbook) or should there also be
> pulldowns?  

On the log entry screen, only menu links are possible for internal reasons, that's why I
have chosen that display mode. I agree that it can look clumsy if you have many
logbooks, but there is the "move to = <logbook list>" option to restrict the number of
target logbooks.

> Newly installed elog gives this response when I try to submit a new record:
> 
> New entry cannot be written to directory "./logbooks/Linux/" 
> Please check that it exists and elogd has write access
> 
> I started the daemon.  I've not yet assigned passwords -- just checking
> things out.  How can I create this access to my own directory?

First, find out under which account the daemon is running. It you account if
you start it interactively, if you installed from the RPM, an account "elog" is
created. Then make sure that the account under which elogd is running has write
access to the ./logbooks/Linux/ directory. One common problem is that people
start the daemon the first time under their account, which causes elogd to
create the logbook directory under the user name. If elogd is later started
under the account "elog" this one of course does not have access to the
directory. A

chown -R elog.elog /usr/local/elog/

issued as root could help in that case. Please replace /usr/local/elog with the
directory where elog is installed.

> [...]
> > Probably it is fine to display only files ending in '.txt' per default.
> > In addition a file that has more than say 1000 lines should probably 
> > also not be displayed (as default, optional OK).  
> 
> No, '.txt' would definitely not be enough for me. I'm using elog to log all
> administration of our network. In many cases, I simply attach a configuration
> file. All those files are plain ASCII and none of them end in '.txt' - and I
> would most definitely like them to be displayed inline like they are now. In
> fact, this change was the main reason for me to upgrade to 2.5.4
> 
> Maybe a configuration option or a "display attachment" button would be the
> best solution, then?
> 
> Cheerio,
> 
> Thomas

So to make everybody happy, it would probably be enough not to display inline any
*.ps file, is that right? Is there any other ASCII format, which should not be
displayed? PDF is binary, so it won't be displayed. What about long C files? Most
people want to see them. In the recent version there is the "Hide attachment"
link which can be clicked to not display an attachment inline. Mabe there should
be a "Hide default = 0|1" config option...

> At some point, in the last week or so, I upgraded the debian-unstable
> version (r1459-1) of elog.  Now, PostScript files (as attachments) are
> displayed (shown in ascii text, instead of just showing the link).  
> 
> Is there an option in the elog.cfg to only display certain files (like .gif
> or .jpg).

See elog:691 . In the latest CVS version, postscript files are not displayed
any more inline, but the next debian release will take some time, maybe you can
compile from source...

> > [...]
> > > Probably it is fine to display only files ending in '.txt' per default.
> > > In addition a file that has more than say 1000 lines should probably 
> > > also not be displayed (as default, optional OK).  
> > 
> > No, '.txt' would definitely not be enough for me. I'm using elog to log all
> > administration of our network. In many cases, I simply attach a configuration
> > file. All those files are plain ASCII and none of them end in '.txt' - and I
> > would most definitely like them to be displayed inline like they are now. In
> > fact, this change was the main reason for me to upgrade to 2.5.4
> > 
> > Maybe a configuration option or a "display attachment" button would be the
> > best solution, then?
> > 
> > Cheerio,
> > 
> > Thomas
> 
> So to make everybody happy, it would probably be enough not to display inline any
> *.ps file, is that right? 

I think there should be size limit.  Imagine a multi MB text file (whatever it is;
elogd.c is already more than 1/2 MB and is likely to increase due to your
excellent support).  A client on an ISDN line would have to wait
several minutes and during this time elogd is busy and no other client can connect
(correct?).  Of course, if somebody really wants to see this file then there is
nothing to be done, but likely someone is flipping throught the messages using
to arrows on top to find the right entry....
So a configurable size limit seems appropriate, from which on 
only 'Display attachment' is displayed.  And/Or, for files
exceeding this limit, the first N (new config option) lines could be displayed.

But this should only influence ASCII files.  E.g. the behaviour for jpeg files
should not change, which is controlled by 'Hide default'.  Maybe a 'Display/Hide
defaut extension' option, where the extensions are listed that are to be displayed
is another idea, in addition to a 'Max Display ASCII inline size' option,
which can be set to zero to disable it altogether.

In any case, whatever you think is best.

Cheers, Heiko

> Is there any other ASCII format, which should not be
> displayed? PDF is binary, so it won't be displayed. What about long C files? Most
> people want to see them. In the recent version there is the "Hide attachment"
> link which can be clicked to not display an attachment inline. Mabe there should
> be a "Hide default = 0|1" config option...

> So a configurable size limit seems appropriate, from which on 
> only 'Display attachment' is displayed.  And/Or, for files
> exceeding this limit, the first N (new config option) lines could be displayed.

Ok, I changed elogd such that only the first 1000 lines of inline attachments are
displayed, with a note of how many lines are truncated. By clicking on the attachment
name, one can still download the complete attachment. I guess the number of lines do
not have to be configurable, but if someone is not happy with the 1000 lines that could
be added.