I automatically install software on 3 machines in our lab, and at the end of the process, use eLOG to record relevant information for each machine (all running Windows XP) via the command line program elog.exe.  2 of the machines log their info correctly, but on third machine, I get the following error:

    Cannot retrieve host name: No error

The error is not very clear (i.e., the error is "no error"?), and furthermore, operationally, the error makes no sense to me, for the three machines are supposedly configured the same.  Additionally, the elog.exe used is stored on a network drive, as are the other batch files that all3 machines use, so it is not as a problem could creep in due to differing versions/configurations of files.

Just in case I am overlooking something, here's the command line invocation (I've X'd out sensitive information):

C:\>x:\@adat\tools\elog.exe -h max13 -l "Maxtee" -u xxxxxxxxxx xx1234   -a Tester=AULS_xxx_y    -a M
achine="Mercury 99"   -a "Module Type"=Controller   -a "Action Description=Configuration Change"   -
a Title="AULS upgraded to 1.2.7344 from [1.1.7343]."   -a "Card Count=998352"   -m X:\@ADAT\InterimP
F\MERCURY29.Blat_Msg1_PostBoot.TXT 1>X:\@ADAT\InterimPF\MERCURY29_eLog_CmdLineOutput1_(PostBoot).txt

Cannot retrieve host name: No error

Obvoiusly, there *must* be some configuration difference between the 2 working and 1 non-working machine, but I am at a loss to figure it out.

I am not sure which version of eLOG is being used, but the size of the elog.exe is 139,264. 

I suggest a new option be added to display the version information, or display the version info whenever eLOG is execute, or display the version info when "-?" option is used.

The error is produced by the C routine "gethostbyname". This routine tries to obtain the IP address of your host max13 and fails. The error "no error" is the error passed to elog from the underlying operating system, so please blame Windows for that. I guess you have a problem that on the machine you get the error you have some DNS problem, so this machine does not know max13. Try to "ping" max13 or do a "nslookup max13" to verify this. Maybe you have to add your domain after max13, or put this machine explicitly into \Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.

I added some version information being displayed with the "-?" option. This feature will be contained in the next release.

Stefan:

Thanks for the analysis and information.  Why am I not surprised that the "No error" came from Windows!? 

I tried some of your suggestions with the following results:

1.  Ping ==>= works as expected on the failing machine; that is, can successfully ping "max13"  I also can ping successfully in the reverse direction; that is, from "max13" to my "client" machine.

2.  NSLookUp ==>does not work on any of the 3 machines.

3.  Added the computer name "max13" to HOSTS file; ==> observed no change in behavior (i.e., still fails)

I did notice that on the 2 machines that function as desired that there is no anti-virus software installed, while on the non-funcational machine there is A-V SW installed.  I am able to bring up eLOG via the browser on the non-functional machine, so am unsure if the A-V SW is a factor; that is, why does ELOG via browser work as expected, but not via command line. 

QUESTION:  does command line ELOG connect differently than ELOG through the browser?

I ask this question for perhaps the A-V SW *is* blocking some port or whatever, and I will need to ask our IT department how to remove such a restriction.

ELOG connects in the same way as the browser, but it is a different program. I have seen some firewalls which explicitly exclude browsers in firewall rules. So it might well be that yours blocks ELOG but not your browser. So give it a try and disable it.

Since both my machine and the Elog server PC are inside my company's "security zone", I am not running a firewall on my machine.

For what it's worth:  in trying to research the "No error" message, I did come across this information on MS's website; that is, their statement is:

The gethostbyname function retrieves host information corresponding to a host name from a host database.

Note  The gethostbyname function has been deprecated by the introduction of the getaddrinfo function. Developers creating Windows Sockets 2 applications are urged to use the getaddrinfo function instead of gethostbyname.

SOURCE:  http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms738524.aspx

it seems out systemlang is en_US,

#date
Thu Mar 27 14:11:59 CET 2008

and i want to change the local lang only for the elogd.

i tried it with .bash_profile in the elog homedir with

LANG=de_AT
export LANG

but it doesn't work.

how can i change it to get  ?

#date
Don Mär 27 14:09:14 CET 2008

thx

Hi, I try to set up a logbook and i wanted to create something with icons (like this logbook) and it will be easier for me if i have ur config file

Thanks a lot

Franck

 We have configured several logbooks to allow users to duplicate an entry in another logbook, which is very useful for entries which apply to more than one category.

However, once the entry is duplicated, subsequent revisions to the original entry are not copied to the duplicate entries.

I can see where implementing that would add a lot of code to ELOG.  Rather than do that, would it be possible to add a configuration option to duplicate only the attributes, and place a link to the original entry in the body of the duplicated entry instead of the full text?

Thanks,

Dennis