Update "Enable logging for Plastic SCM" article to send client logs to %APPDATA%?

[Mikael Kalms]

Hi,

some time ago I activated detailed logging for cm.exe & plastic.exe following instructions here.

Since then I have updated my Plastic SCM version a couple of times over. Today I accidentally installed the non-Cloud version, but then installed the Cloud version.

After this, both plastic.exe and cm.exe lost write access to the C:\Program Files\PlasticSCM5\client folder. For cm.exe this results in no logfile being written; for plastic.exe it results in strange tech hangs during some operations, and callstacks like these when you break in with WinDBG:

Quote

0:000> !PrintException
Exception object: 00000000052a0b88
Exception type:   System.UnauthorizedAccessException
Message:          Access to the path 'C:\Program Files\PlasticSCM5\client\plastic20180326-15.log.txt' is denied.
InnerException:   <none>
StackTrace (generated):
<none>
StackTraceString: <none>
HResult: 80070005

0:000> !clrstack
OS Thread Id: 0x1ac (0)
        Child SP               IP Call Site
0000000000d5e258 00007ffeeba44008 [HelperMethodFrame: 0000000000d5e258] 
0000000000d5e340 00007ffeda142ae1 System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32, System.String) [f:\dd\ndp\clr\src\BCL\system\io\__error.cs @ 160]
0000000000d5e390 00007ffeda191c8b System.IO.FileStream.Init(System.String, System.IO.FileMode, System.IO.FileAccess, Int32, Boolean, System.IO.FileShare, Int32, System.IO.FileOptions, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES, System.String, Boolean, Boolean, Boolean) [f:\dd\ndp\clr\src\BCL\system\io\filestream.cs @ 880]
0000000000d5e490 00007ffeda18eccb System.IO.FileStream..ctor(System.String, System.IO.FileMode, System.IO.FileAccess, System.IO.FileShare) [f:\dd\ndp\clr\src\BCL\system\io\filestream.cs @ 527]
0000000000d5e540 00007ffececb6e48 *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\WINDOWS\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_64\log4net\5c9f1d0c33dda2bd3cd0379fcef6427c\log4net.ni.dll
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\WINDOWS\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_64\log4net\5c9f1d0c33dda2bd3cd0379fcef6427c\log4net.ni.dll
log4net.Appender.FileAppender+LockingModelBase.CreateStream(System.String, Boolean, System.IO.FileShare)
0000000000d5e5c0 00007ffececb6f92 log4net.Appender.FileAppender+ExclusiveLock.OpenFile(System.String, Boolean, System.Text.Encoding)
0000000000d5e620 00007ffececb6502 log4net.Appender.FileAppender.OpenFile(System.String, Boolean)
0000000000d5e690 00007ffececba066 log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender.OpenFile(System.String, Boolean)
0000000000d5e6f0 00007ffececb621b log4net.Appender.FileAppender.SafeOpenFile(System.String, Boolean)
0000000000d5e750 00007ffececb5e27 log4net.Appender.FileAppender.ActivateOptions()
0000000000d5e7a0 00007ffececd4d03 log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.XmlHierarchyConfigurator.ParseAppender(System.Xml.XmlElement)
0000000000d5e840 00007ffececd484f log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.XmlHierarchyConfigurator.FindAppenderByReference(System.Xml.XmlElement)
0000000000d5e8b0 00007ffececd5238 log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.XmlHierarchyConfigurator.ParseChildrenOfLoggerElement(System.Xml.XmlElement, log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.Logger, Boolean)
0000000000d5e920 00007ffececd50f6 log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.XmlHierarchyConfigurator.ParseRoot(System.Xml.XmlElement)
0000000000d5e980 00007ffececd43c4 log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.XmlHierarchyConfigurator.Configure(System.Xml.XmlElement)
0000000000d5ea00 00007ffececd25f4 log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.Hierarchy.XmlRepositoryConfigure(System.Xml.XmlElement)
0000000000d5ea70 00007ffececc3cd5 log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.InternalConfigureFromXml(log4net.Repository.ILoggerRepository, System.Xml.XmlElement)
0000000000d5eac0 00007ffececc3629 log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.InternalConfigure(log4net.Repository.ILoggerRepository, System.IO.Stream)
0000000000d5eb30 00007ffececc2d5a log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.InternalConfigure(log4net.Repository.ILoggerRepository, System.IO.FileInfo)
0000000000d5eb90 00007ffececc28c2 log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure(System.IO.FileInfo)
0000000000d5ec00 00007ffec8087dfc *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\WINDOWS\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_64\plastic\90608e846a2919892f756afc40ac8bfc\plastic.ni.exe
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\WINDOWS\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_64\plastic\90608e846a2919892f756afc40ac8bfc\plastic.ni.exe
xk.a()
0000000000d5ec50 00007ffec8087a3b xk.a(System.String[])
0000000000d5eee0 00007ffedbb95863 [GCFrame: 0000000000d5eee0] 

It took a long time to trace the strange GUI behaviour back to "after upgrade, the client application was no longer allowed to write logfiles into c:\program files".

 

I suggest that you update the Logging article: provide example config files that write clientside log files to ${LOCALAPPDATA}\plastic4\logs - I have attached updated the example conf files - and change the article text to indicate the new location where client-side logs get written.

 

(This is not a problem for the server, as that will be run as Local System account.)

 

cm.log.conf

 

plastic.log.conf

[psantosl]

Hi Mikael,

 

Good point. We'll update the docu.

[Mikael Kalms]

Note: I updated plastic.log.conf - it had appendToFile set to false, so the log config would lose data at PlasticSCM client restarts. This has been fixed.