Scribe Scribe 2.4.4 is out

[cmkelley]

Pushed scribe 2.4.4

• Fixes the gnu grep "stray \ before /" warning, probably the "wrong" way, by fixing it for gnu grep rather than forcing busybox grep ...
• Somewhere along the line, syslog-ng.ctl and syslog-ng.pid files path was changed to /opt/var/run/syslog-ng; if you were upgrading that directory would not automatically be created, and certain functions would not work correctly because they couldn't find those. So now scribe will create that directory if it doesn't exist.
• A couple cosmetic changes

Although the installed syslog-ng says it's "3.38", upstream decided to change 3.38 to 4.0.0, so you will not find a user's manual online for 3.38. I expect mayhem when entware syslog-ng changes to the 4.x series, given syslog-ng's history. I don't even want to know what's going to change at this point.

The last 3 years have not been kind. Hopefully 2023 will be a better year. I don't know that I'll be around more, but I hope so.

 

[cmkelley]

Has anyone fixed their PATH so busybox grep is the one that's called (i.e. deleted the /opt/... directories from the font of the path)? If so, can I assume this doesn't create problems? It's been so long, I don't think I have anything that relies on gnu grep, but I don't want to push something like that without testing.

 

[Kingp1n]

Pushed scribe 2.4.4

• Fixes the gnu grep "stray \ before /" warning, probably the "wrong" way, by fixing it for gnu grep rather than forcing busybox grep ...
• Somewhere along the line, syslog-ng.ctl and syslog-ng.pid files path was changed to /opt/var/run/syslog-ng; if you were upgrading that directory would not automatically be created, and certain functions would not work correctly because they couldn't find those. So now scribe will create that directory if it doesn't exist.
• A couple cosmetic changes

Although the installed syslog-ng says it's "3.38", upstream decided to change 3.38 to 4.0.0, so you will not find a user's manual online for 3.38. I expect mayhem when entware syslog-ng changes to the 4.x series, given syslog-ng's history. I don't even want to know what's going to change at this point.

The last 3 years have not been kind. Hopefully 2023 will be a better year. I don't know that I'll be around more, but I hope so.

@cmkelley, wish you all the best in 2023. All your hard work is always appreciated and hope you can contribute for as long you can. Thank you for all you do!!!!

 

[Lurkmaster]

Has anyone fixed their PATH so busybox grep is the one that's called (i.e. deleted the /opt/... directories from the font of the path)?

Yes, see my PATH without entware at the front, which loses the error in Scribe menu output.

foobar@RT-AX86U:/tmp/home/root# echo $PATH
/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/home/foobar:/mmc/sbin:/mmc/bin:/mmc/usr/sbin:/mmc/usr/bin:/opt/sbin:/opt/bin:/opt/usr/sbin:/opt/usr/bin:/opt/bin:/opt/sbin:/jffs/scripts:.

EDIT: I should also say that all the various logs being split out as well as log rolling works fine.

Spoiler: scribe output without the stray '\' error

Please select an option: s





checking syslog-ng daemon ... alive.





checking system for necessary scribe hooks ...





checking S01syslog-ng ... present.


checking service-event ... present.


checking post-mount ... present.


checking unmount ... present.


checking logrotate cron job ... present.


checking directory links ... present.





checking syslog-ng configuration ...





syslog-ng.conf version check ... in sync. (3.38)


syslog-ng.conf syntax check ... okay!





scribe installed version: v2.4_3 (master)


scribe GitHub version: v2.4_4 (master)


New scribe version available





Press [Enter] to continue:

 

[figorr]

Everything seems to run smoothly.

I didn’t see any error at logs.

Thank you @cmkelley

 

[elorimer]

Welcome back.

Whether the /opt directories are at the beginning or end of the path seems to be a real point of contention.

One area still to be dealt with is that the udp driver is deprecated in favor of the network() drivers, but that may require including the scl directory. Not sure.

From what I can gather, 4.0 and 4.0.1 are intended to be backward compatible with the 3.xx series, and the number change is just because it's been 13 years since the 3.xx series started. The biggest change seems to be in the ability to deal with json-type pairs and databases, but I don't think that is something we get into here. I think you can control this by not changing the version in the beginning of the .conf file beyond 3.38, so it runs in compatibility mode; contrariwise, it looks like you can enable that now by changing the version to 4.0. Haven't had the nerve to try.

 

[elorimer]

Has anyone fixed their PATH so busybox grep is the one that's called (i.e. deleted the /opt/... directories from the font of the path)?

Entware installs everything with /opt in the beginning instead of the end. I think some add-ons have adopted the practice of specifying the full path.

Scribe - Entware coreutils-uname breaks scribe installer

After upgrading to Merlin FW 386.4, the scribe script no longer executes the installer. Because the error screen bails so quickly, users attempting to install via amtm never see the error. I ran through the steps manually to see a warning that the script requires ASUSWRT-Merlin w/ Entware...

www.snbforums.com

 

[cmkelley]

Yes, see my PATH without entware at the front, which loses the error in Scribe menu output.

foobar@RT-AX86U:/tmp/home/root# echo $PATH
/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/home/foobar:/mmc/sbin:/mmc/bin:/mmc/usr/sbin:/mmc/usr/bin:/opt/sbin:/opt/bin:/opt/usr/sbin:/opt/usr/bin:/opt/bin:/opt/sbin:/jffs/scripts:.

EDIT: I should also say that all the various logs being split out as well as log rolling works fine.

Spoiler: scribe output without the stray '\' error

Please select an option: s





checking syslog-ng daemon ... alive.





checking system for necessary scribe hooks ...





checking S01syslog-ng ... present.


checking service-event ... present.


checking post-mount ... present.


checking unmount ... present.


checking logrotate cron job ... present.


checking directory links ... present.





checking syslog-ng configuration ...





syslog-ng.conf version check ... in sync. (3.38)


syslog-ng.conf syntax check ... okay!





scribe installed version: v2.4_3 (master)


scribe GitHub version: v2.4_4 (master)


New scribe version available





Press [Enter] to continue:

Thanks!

 

[cmkelley]

Entware installs everything with /opt in the beginning instead of the end. I think some add-ons have adopted the practice of specifying the full path.

Scribe - Entware coreutils-uname breaks scribe installer

After upgrading to Merlin FW 386.4, the scribe script no longer executes the installer. Because the error screen bails so quickly, users attempting to install via amtm never see the error. I ran through the steps manually to see a warning that the script requires ASUSWRT-Merlin w/ Entware...

www.snbforums.com

Yeah, I read that and saw the discussion on where to put /opt in PATH. I'm of the it should be at the end by default camp, i.e. do the least harm. But personally, I put mine at the beginning, because I'm careful about what I install. Hence why I wanted feedback from people that don't have /opt stuff at the beginning of their PATH.

Scribe 2.5.0 will specify direct (busybox) paths to everything so it won't matter what else you load from entware. EDIT: ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH - literally EVERY COMMAND is "external" in busybox (most just point back to busybox - it decides what to do based on how it's called) Thank Lee McMahon for sed!

The UDP driver thing is a meh from me, they decided (for once!) that it would break way too many people's (and company's) installs to remove it entirely, and that it would render a massive number of tutorials on the web as broken (syslog-ng/syslog-ng#2334). So it sounds like it will be deprecated forever in the documentation, but the software itself won't say anything about it. I'm not super inclined to figure out how to change it. My thought is that anyone running a complicated enough setup to need the new method probably knows enough to fix it for themselves.

 

[elorimer]

Having a go, having put 4.0 in the config file:

Feb  5 21:00:00 RT-AC86U syslog-ng[3936]: Configuration reload request received, reloading configuration;
Feb  5 21:00:00 RT-AC86U syslog-ng[3936]: Configuration reload finished;
Feb  5 22:00:02 RT-AC86U syslog-ng[3936]: WARNING: experimental behaviors of the future syslog-ng 4.0 are now enabled. This mode of operation is meant to solicit feedback and allow the evaluation of the new features. USE THIS MODE AT YOUR OWN RISK, please share feedback via GitHub, Gitter.im or email to the authors; config-version='4.0'

 

[CaptnDanLKW]

Thanks for the update. I was figuring the .ctl error has something to do with a syslog-ng change that came through the entware updates at some point.

When upgrading, I saw this in messages...

Feb 7 06:59:27 RTAC86U uiScribe: Missing argument for startup, not starting uiScribe

But in fact, it did load. Still, I edited my uiScribe log filters and restarted. The message did NOT appear again.

 

[cmkelley]

Thanks for the update. I was figuring the .ctl error has something to do with a syslog-ng change that came through the entware updates at some point.

When upgrading, I saw this in messages...

Feb 7 06:59:27 RTAC86U uiScribe: Missing argument for startup, not starting uiScribe

But in fact, it did load. Still, I edited my uiScribe log filters and restarted. The message did NOT appear again.

Hrm. I searched my logs and I have nothing like that. And I've been using upgrade a lot to test the explicit paths that will be coming in 2.5_0.

I looked around in uiScribe where that message is generated, and I'm not sure what may have tripped that. Jack Yaz is your man there.

 

[whatsup]

hi all sorry to as i am not too familiar or understand what scribe does, i thing it has something to do with scripting? . awhile ago i decided to install scribe. anyway today i decided to log into atm and it states scribe has an update . i cannot update it sill staes old version . cannot fix it . cannot even re install or delete it .

 

[kernol]

Looks like your setup is in a bit of a tangle - so suggest you uninstall Scribe.
Note that you must respond with UPPER CASE - YES ... to uninstall - it aborted because you answered with "yes".

After you have successfully uninstalled - Scribe will no longer appear on your amtm menu - unless you input "i " to reveal all the amazing scripts provided by many avid Asus router supporters.

I have used Scribe for years as it makes sense of what is often a busy system log file.
Welcome to these forums - lots to learn and much pleasure to be gained.

 

[whatsup]

Looks like your setup is in a bit of a tangle - so suggest you uninstall Scribe.
Note that you must respond with UPPER CASE - YES ... to uninstall - it aborted because you answered with "yes".

After you have successfully uninstalled - Scribe will no longer appear on your amtm menu - unless you input "i " to reveal all the amazing scripts provided by many avid Asus router supporters.

I have used Scribe for years as it makes sense of what is often a busy system log file.
Welcome to these forums - lots to learn and much pleasure to be gained.

thanking you i will try again

 

[whatsup]

thanking you i will try again

uninstalled reboot re installed working scribe .BUT Gui not looking good

 

[whatsup]

uninstalled reboot re installed working scribe .BUT Gui not looking good

all good uninstalled everything. started from scratch

 

[cmkelley]

hi all sorry to as i am not too familiar or understand what scribe does, i thing it has something to do with scripting? . awhile ago i decided to install scribe. anyway today i decided to log into atm and it states scribe has an update . i cannot update it sill staes old version . cannot fix it . cannot even re install or delete it .

So, what scribe does is install a program called syslog-ng, which helps split the cluttered system log file into smaller, more focused logs. If you never look at or care to understand the logfile, there's really no point to running scribe. Note that the purpose of scribe is to help people who want to understand a little more about what's going on in the router, and possibly help track down the source of a problem, but most definitely not to uncover "bugs" with odd log entries.

As for your problems, it looks to me like you had file corruption. If it happens again, I recommend replacing your USB drive. scribe, as with most of the scripts installable with amtm, is actually pretty simple in what it does, and certainly shouldn't affect the router webui like that. I'm also using an AC86U, and have never seen anything like what you're seeing.

 

[whatsup]

So, what scribe does is install a program called syslog-ng, which helps split the cluttered system log file into smaller, more focused logs. If you never look at or care to understand the logfile, there's really no point to running scribe. Note that the purpose of scribe is to help people who want to understand a little more about what's going on in the router, and possibly help track down the source of a problem, but most definitely not to uncover "bugs" with odd log entries.

As for your problems, it looks to me like you had file corruption. If it happens again, I recommend replacing your USB drive. scribe, as with most of the scripts installable with amtm, is actually pretty simple in what it does, and certainly shouldn't affect the router webui like that. I'm also using an AC86U, and have never seen anything like what you're seeing.

Webui ok now after few reboots. was a little worried all good

 

[Ripshod]

uninstalled reboot re installed working scribe .BUT Gui not looking good

Next time try ctrl+f5 in the browser you're using.