[ntp:hackers] Should be: Choosing a Logile Extension for NTP

TS Glassey tglassey at earthlink.net
Tue Sep 30 18:25:37 UTC 2008


Hal -
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hal Dell" <hdell at epodworks.net>
To: "'TS Glassey'" <tglassey at earthlink.net>; "'David J Taylor'" 
<david-taylor at blueyonder.co.uk>; <hackers at ntp.org>
Cc: "'Jeff McDonald'" <jmcdonald at jtime.us>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 11:05 AM
Subject: RE: Should be: Choosing a Logile Extension for NTP


>
>>> Martin Burnicki wrote:
>>>
>>> So the basic question is whether we should simply use the .txt
>>> extension (which is also my preferred solution), or use an individual
>>> extension like .ntp_log or so.
>>>
>>> If we use the .txt extension then these files will automatically be
>>> opend by the preferred text editor, e.g. notepad. Since the files are
>>> indeed just another set of text files this should be fine.
>>> Resulting filenames would look like e.g.: loopstats.20080923.txt
>>>
>>> If we use an extension like .ntp_log then we must register a default
>>> application for these file types. Of course this can simply be done by
>>> the installer. However, what is the benefit of using an individual
>>> application?
>>>
>>>>This will violate the dot-three standard that file-extensions are
>>>>constrained by.
>
> As far as my understanding goes... Windows file parsing handles multiple
> dots in a file name just fine, however, the parser only uses the 
> characters
> after the last dot on right as the file extension. This is needed so that
> Windows can support *nix file names given its *nix support features.
>
> <important concern>
>
> My goal was to try to minimize the impact on NTP and users. Because we 
> need
> to consider that folks are going to have LOTS of pre-existing loopstats
> files
> that are named in the "OLD" fashion -- "Loopstats.<date>".

So then they can do an induction on Loopstats.* and support a rule that any 
file with the leading name Loopstats would be read and parsed by the 
monitor.

>
> So the question becomes, what do you do with the files named in the "OLD"
> fashion? My proposal would be to do "nothing". The end user could rename
> them based upon some need.
>
> </important concern>

Hal you are right -  a shell script can be used to convert existing 
archive's of loopstat files to the new naming convention since they all have 
the same format.

>
> In this way when somone clicks on "NTP Loopstats" and then "Generate" in 
> the
> Statistic Tab of the NTP Time Server Monitor the program will have not
> problem

See above - loopstats.* commentary.

> finding ALL files previous named in the "Old" fashion plus any new files 
> by
> using a file name wildcard match of "Loopstats.*" without much or if any 
> new
> programming.
>
> This assumes you have files named "Loopstats.<date>" and
> "Loopstats.<date>.ntp_log"
> in the same folder. Of course any extenstion name of your choice could be
> used
> for example: ".txt" instead of ".ntp_log".
>
> I tested this theory on my Windows 2003 Server R2 SP2 and it works as
> expected.
>
>>> Martin Burnicki wrote:
>>>
>>> There would be a benefit if we had an individual application which
>>> could be started to read and display those log files. However, I'm
>>> not aware of any. In most cases you just want to have a quick look
>>> using a text editor.
>>>
>>> BTW, should the new extension also be appended to the current log
>>> files, e.g. loopstats.txt or loopstats.ntp_log rather than just
>>> loopstats?
>>>>
>>>> David wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Martin,
>>>>
>>>> Do whatever makes it simpler for the user - .txt rather than .ntp_log
>>>> would probably be best for the end users.  Make it so for the current
> log
>>>> files as well.
>>>>
>>>> Your own NTP Monitor is perhaps, for Windows users, closest to the
>>>> individual application they might use to view the data.
>
> IMHO, Having a private file extension allows NTP Monitor installer to 
> define
> what application on Windows gets activated upon the double click of a log
> file
> plus if someone develops a data viewer of some kind they can easily 
> override
> the installer default without affecting any other behavior on Windows.
>
> It also allows for the possibility that that NTP Monitor installer could
> change its behavior in the future without affecting any other behavior
> on Windows.
>
> So If I had a vote I would choose ".ntp_log".
>
> ORIGINAL ISSUE...
> Please remember that the main flaw in NTP that I reported is the fact that
> any
> loopstats.* files with only a single entry appear to cause the NTP Monitor
> Statistics to fail. That was my primary reason I was looking at the
> loopstats.*
> files in the first place. Does anyone know when this issue will be fixed?
>
> Thanks,
> Hal Dell
> Managing Partner
> ePodWorks.net, Inc.
> PO Box 22
> Willow Grove, PA 19090
> Office: +1-215-830-0662
> Fax: +1-866-549-4652
>


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11:03 AM



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