Java Log Viewer [closed]

Question

Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to debug a program is by going through its long log files.

I searched for a decent log viewer for a while now, and haven't found a real solution. The only program that seemed to be most appropriate was Chainsaw with its Socket connector but after a few short uses the program proved to be buggy and unresponsive at best.

For my purposes, a log viewer should at least be able to mark log levels (for example with different colors) and perform easy filtering based on packages and free-text.

Is there any other (free) log viewer? I'm looking for anything that could work well with log4j.

Answer 1

LogMX is a crossplatform tool that parses any log format from any source, then displays log entries with many features. By default, it handles formats like Log4j, LogFactor, syslog,... and can read from local file or SFTP, FTP, HTTP... but you can write your own pluggins if your format is another one or if your logs cannot be accessed through classical protocols.

You can monitor logs in realtime like 'tail' or load a whole log file and stop monitoring it.

www.logmx.com

Answer 2

I have written a custom tool for that: https://plus.google.com/u/0/102275357970232913798/posts/Fsu6qftH2ja

Alfa is a GUI tool for analyzing log files. Usually you are forced to search for data in them using editors. You open a log, press Ctrl-F and the "Next" button again and again, then reload the file as it was modified, and repeat the search. Alfa maps a log file to a database allowing you to use standard SQL queries to get data without any superfluous actions.

Answer 3

LogSaw based on Eclipse and free. Log4j log file analyzer, simple to use with easy filtering. Supports several flavors of log4j log files: JBoss, Log4j pattern layout, Log4j XML layout, WebSphere.

Works like a charm. After couple of hours googling and trying several recommended free log4j viewers, this one was pleasant surprise. Have tried Chainsaw, BareTail, Insight, LogExpert, logview4j.

It is released weeks ago, and I guess still builds its way up on google.

Answer 4

Consider to use Log4j viewer eclipse plugin - that was fork of Ganemede plugin in the begging and now have more features and stability was improved significantly, and still in active development and free :)

Answer 5

You may want to use a custom log viewer that just works on files. I like Kiwi Log Viewer or Ganymede (an Eclipse plugin), but it's not hard to put a simple Swing app together that reads from the socket.

Answer 6

You didn't mention an OS, so I'll mention this though it is only on Windows.

Bare Metal Software makes a product called BareTail that has a nice interface and works well. They have a free version with a startup nag screen, a licensed version with no nag, and a pro version with additional features. It has configurable highlighting based on matching lines against keywords.

They also have a BareGrep product too, which provides similar grep capabilities. Both are excellent and very stable and better than anything I've seen on Windows. I liked them so much I bought the bundle with both pro versions for $50.