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Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

#20514 Old logs

Posted in ‘Akeeba Backup for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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PHP version
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Akeeba Backup version
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Latest post by nicholas on Thursday, 17 July 2014 11:41 CDT

Ch3vr0n
Simple question really but I looked everywhere in the component and documentation but could not find out how to do this.

Is there a way to review the backup logs from previously created backups? If so how and 2 how can I configure the component to automatically delete old backup points last a certain number or is that not possible from a security standpoint

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Very valid question but the answer is that no, you cannot. The log is overwritten with each backup taken from the same origin.

Regarding the old restore points, you can set up the System Restore Points quota in the Configuration page. In Akeeba Backup 3.11.2 and earlier you MUST set this quota in profile #1 as this is the backup profile used with System Restore Points. In the upcoming 3.11.3 version and later versions you will be able to choose which profile to use with System Restore Points (by default it will still be #1), therefore you will need to set up this option in the backup profile used for SRPs.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Ch3vr0n
Would it be I'd to include this in the next version perhaps tired to the number of backups kept? 5 total backups (full site and srp's combined) = 5 viewable logs, or can/will this not be done from a security standpoint?

And I wasn't just taking about srp's, I lent full site backups in general (removing obsolete ones)

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
No. It would make quota management, logging, backup record administration and most importantly the log view and troubleshooting documentation extremely problematic. I can live with making the first three more complicated, it's purely a coding issue and I can handle it. Log viewing becomes a dicey proposition once you start having a different log file per backup. Documenting where to find each log file in various documentation and troubleshooter pages and videos in a way that all users of the software can and will post to us the CORRECT log file is impossible. That would make it impossible for us to provide accurate support, making the software look complicated and badly supported, leading to a substantial loss of income.

So, no, we won't implement this kind of feature because it subtracts value from the software for most of its users.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Ch3vr0n
i can be wrong but i had imagined the log page like this if it had/would be implemented. [ ] means a dropdown box. (x) will explain belog

[Select backup type] (1) [Select backup file] (2) [View Log] (3)


(1) would be either "Full site backup" or "System Restore Point"
(2) would then show a dropdown from the stored backup files for that type
(3) clicking on this would pull up the log for that specific file

A very simple layout and easy to document i & code i think (atleast the layout part, for the underlying mechanics i don't know)

But i can understand the reasoning, it's just something that popped into my head today.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Oh, that's a different feature and yes, it's already implemented :D We have a different log file per backup origin. The System Restore Points are a different origin than regular backups. This log file is named akeeba.restorepoint.log and is visible under the View Log page as the "Restore Point" origin. Of course, like any other log file, you only get the last log file of the origin, i.e. the log file of the latest system restore point attempt.

However, having a different log file per restore point attempt is a very, VERY different barrel of fish. The easy way would be storing the log file in the database along with the system restore point information. However, if the system restore point log file grows over a few hundred kilobytes it becomes an extremely dicey proposition to store them in the database without causing the SRP (and the extension update) fail out cold.

Another way to do this would be renaming the log file after each restore point is taken. However, this is problematic in two ways. First, it's a Catch-22 issue: you can't rename the log file while it is being written to it, but it will be written to it when you rename the log file in the course of an SRP backup. In theory we could but a 50 caliber artillery shell through our brains by having the rename take place AFTER the SRP is taken, which makes the SRP feature extremely unmaintainable since it now requires a complete fork of the Javascript, HTML and PHP code used to render the Backup Now page. Let me put some subtitles. The next time Joomla! changes something in their Javascript (in about 2 to 8 months) we would need twice the amount of time to get a working Akeeba Backup version out, with twice the cost and twice the probability of introducing a new bug. And it gets downhill from there.

And I'd wish that was the end of it. We have the management of system restore points. If you remove a backup archive (including a restore point) the log file is not deleted. So, we'd need to now fork the controller handling backup management, one for regular backups and one for SRP backups. That doubling of effort now became even worse. Moreover, having the log file deleted automatically would require storing even more information to the database, after the log file is renamed, in a place of the code that makes it a real pain in the hindquarters to maintain it.

The changes required increase the likelihood of bugs in the SRP system exponentially. Do I want to go there? Hm, I am a masochist with our extensions, but not THAT much :)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Ch3vr0n
Understood. Well i always say "it can't hurt to ask. A NO you always have, a YES you can potentially get". In this case however it will remain a NO. even if u hoped this would be feasible sometimes it isn't, but i won't lose any sleep over it (or ask you to :p or like the extension less. It already saved my ass a few times when some component (un)install screwed something up on the backend layout. Restore a backup and poof. All good again

So thanks anyway for explaining in detail why it isn't feasible and for a great extension none-the-less

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
You're welcome, Wim :)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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