Why can't I get Apache's CustomLog directive to work?

Question

I'm trying to use Apache's CustomLog directive to create some custom log files, but can't get it working. Here is the configuration I'm using for the custom logs:

LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b" common
LogFormat "%{Referer}i -> %U" referer
LogFormat "%{User-agent}i" agent

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/jb_common common
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/jb_referer referer

Apache creates both of these custom log files on startup, so it definitely sees the CustomLog directives, but it never writes anything to these files; however, the default access log (access.log) is being written to.

Any ideas? I'm running Apache 2.2 on Ubuntu 8.10.

Answer 1

I am experiencing the same problem, and have also posted here:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1529353&page=1

I am using Ubuntu 8.04 and Apache 2.2.8.

The CustomLog and TransferLog directives appear to do nothing. The empty files are created, but nothing appears in them. This occurs even if I use a non-conditional, simple log format of "hello" or "%u".

In my case, the module mod_log_config is compiled into Apache, so I cannot attempt to update the mod_log_config.so file. Can someone give me advice as to what would happen if I attempted to recompile the apache binary with the same modules it currently uses? Would this have a low impact on the system?

Like the user above, I am stumped at this point. I would like to get custom logging working, but may have to wait for the next Ubuntu apache release.

Thanks,

Dan

Answer 2

I have the same problem with Ubuntu 9.10 Server and Apache 2.2.12. I'm setting up a Subversion server with mod_dav_svn and added a CustomLog directive to /etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.conf to log Subversion requests, but had the same problem (the log file was created when Apache started, but was never written to):

<Location /svn>
  ...
</Location>

LogFormat "%t %u %{SVN-ACTION}e" svn_log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/svn_access.log svn_log env=SVN-ACTION

There are two workarounds for the issue that I found, which basically amount to the same thing. I'm documenting both here because they have different pros and cons.

Workaround 1

1. Delete the CustomLog directive from your configuration file, if you have it set up in a separate configuration file.

2. Add the CustomLog directive to your site's VirtualHost entry. For me this was in /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl because I'm only allowing SSL access to the Subversion repository. If you are using /etc/apache2/sites-available/default, you will want to edit that file instead (or in addition to default-ssl if you are using both).

3. Restart Apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Pro

You can have multiple CustomLog directives in the VirtualHost entry for your site, and they will all work.

Con

You have to move your CustomLog entry into your site's VirtualHost entry instead of having it in a separate configuration file.

Workaround 2

1. Comment out the CustomLog directive(s) in your site's VirtualHost entry. If you're using one of the default site configurations (default or default-ssl), there will be a CustomLog directive for the access log that you will need to comment out (yes, this turns off Apache's default access logging).

2. Add your CustomLog directive to the appropriate configuration file. For me this was /etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.conf.

3. Restart Apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Pro

You can keep your CustomLog directive in a separate configuration file.

Con

This workaround has the obvious disadvantage that you have to disable Apache's default access logging, but for me I don't care that much since I'm only using the server for Subversion access.

Conclusion

Neither of these workarounds are really ideal, but so far I haven't found a way to get it to work other than than the two workarounds above. I suppose we'll have to wait for the next release of Apache for this issue to be fixed.