Log

1 What is logged

Every single operation made in SoftwareCentral is logged.

The log is stored in the SoftwareCentral database. By default, the log is saved forever.

To read the log, open Log in SoftwareCentral. The About the log page describes the interface: the entries, the tabs and how a log entry is built up. Search the log explains the filters.

2 Keep the log for a set time

You can keep the log for a limited number of months. This keeps the size of the log down and can improve performance.

Go to Settings › Maintenance and set Automatically remove log entries older than (months) (0 = Keep all).

Value	What happens
0 (default)	All log entries are kept. This is the value when nothing has been set.
1 or more	Entries older than that many months are removed from the log.

The SoftwareCentral service removes the old entries once a day, as part of its daily tasks. Each time entries are removed, the log records a success entry: Successfully removed N log entries older than M months.

Removed entries are gone The entries are deleted from the database. SoftwareCentral cannot restore them, so export what you need first (see Search the log).

3 Personal data in the log

GDPR Log messages may contain information which can be used to identify persons. To comply with GDPR policies you may be required to delete log messages after a certain period of time. Use the setting in section 2 to do that.

4 Related pages

Page	What it covers
About the log	How to use the log interface: the entries, the tabs and the filters.
General Log and Personal Log	The General log, the Personal log and the Event log, and who can see them.
Search the log	The filters in the left menu, starting a search and exporting to CSV.
Log message severity (importance)	What each severity level means.
Troubleshooting	Tools that do not launch, and where to look first.

5 Best practice

Choose the retention to match your data policy. The default is 0, which keeps every entry forever. Set a number of months if your policy requires personal data to be deleted after a period.
Export before you shorten the period. Entries older than the new period are deleted at the next daily run and cannot be restored.
Check the log first when something stops working. The entries name the computer or the task and the error, which is quicker than guessing.
Treat exported logs as personal data. Log messages and user names can identify people, so store and share them with the same care as the log itself.

6 Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	What to do
Entries older than you expected are missing.	The value of Automatically remove log entries older than (months) is above 0, and the daily clean-up has run.	Check the value under Settings › Maintenance. Set 0 to keep everything from now on. Entries already removed cannot be restored.
"Successfully removed N log entries older than M months."	This is a success entry, not an error. The daily clean-up removed entries.	Nothing to do. Check the value if you did not expect the removal.
"Failed to truncate log."	The daily clean-up could not remove the old entries.	Open the entry and read its details. The clean-up runs again at the next daily run.