Re: proposals for log file format changes

robm@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Rob McCool)
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Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 11:03:34 --100
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From: robm@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Rob McCool)
To: Multiple recipients of list <www-talk@www0.cern.ch>
Subject: Re: proposals for log file format changes
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/*
 * Re: proposals for log file format changes  by Tony Sanders
 *    written on Feb  1,  5:39pm.
 *
 * Hmm, this isn't what RFC931 returns though (for example, one useful thing
 * to do is return encrypted usernames via RFC931).  I think this should just
 * be the From: info if provided.  There should be a seperate field for
 * RFC931.

Okay.

 * The ddd and bbbb stuff is a bit of a pain.  Doing it right would require
 * the server to parse the output from gateways.  So long as we define that
 * it is optional it doesn't bother me.
 */

Good point. I don't want to touch the output of nph CGI scripts on my end.

So, how about this revised version:

Here's my proposal for a new logfile format:

host rfc931 authuser [DD/Mon/YYYY:hh:mm:ss] ``request'' ddd bbbb

host: Either the DNS name or the IP number of the remote client
rfc931: Any information returned by identd for this person, - otherwise.
authuser: If user sent a userid for authentication, the user name,
otherwise, -.
Mon: Month (calendar name)
DD: Day
YYYY: Year
hh: hour (24-hour format, the machine's timezone)
mm: minute
ss: seconds
request: The first line of the HTTP request as sent by the client.
ddd: the status code returned by the server, - if not available.
bbbb: the total number of bytes sent, *not including the HTTP/1.0 header*, -
if not available.

The only remaining thing I haven't changed is to make the timezone GMT.
Comments? 

--Rob