MailNews:Logging

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Mailnews logs help developers understand what is causing an issue. Please enable Thunderbird to write extra information to a log file, by setting two environment variables before running a MailNews application.

Main module options within MailNews

MailNews applications (SeaMonkey/Thunderbird) allow these modules/protocols in both debug and release builds:

• imap
• ImapAutoSync
• ldap
• mime
• msgdb (level 1=opens/closes, level 5 lists open db's on close, number of msg hdrs in use)
• nntp
• pop3
• smtp

(Other options below)

Environment Variables to set

Two environment variables must set:

1. NSPR_LOG_MODULES - Module name and level separated by colon, and multiple modules separated by comma
   • Example: "imap:5"
   • Example: "ldap:5,smtp:3,timestamp"
   • optional ",timestamp" : timestamp is added to all log entries (as of 2009-05-13 3.0b3pre builds)
   • optional ",sync" : Buffering in log writing is disabled, so latest log data can be seen by ad-hoc copy of log file
2. NSPR_LOG_FILE - Path to the log file
   • If NSPR_LOG_FILE is not set, then the output will be logged to the console where the application was launched.

Note:

• The log is written over every time you re-launch the mozilla application.
• You must have write access to the directory of the log file.

Logging level

The number in the NSPR_LOG_MODULES specifies the level of logging to be used. A lower number reduces the amount of information being logged. Use "5" unless requested otherwise.

• PR_LOG_NONE = 0, /* nothing */
• PR_LOG_ALWAYS = 1, /* always printed */
• PR_LOG_ERROR = 2, /* error messages */
• PR_LOG_WARNING = 3, /* warning messages */
• PR_LOG_DEBUG = 4, /* debug messages */

Some modules may not work exactly according to the log levels noted above. Very few modules actually have different logging levels

Generating a Protocol Log

Windows

Create a batch file e.g. "create_imap_log.bat" using notepad. Example:

set NSPR_LOG_MODULES=imap:5
set NSPR_LOG_FILE=%APPDATA%\imap.log
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe"

To log another protocol, replace "imap" with e.g. "smtp" or "pop3" in the above instructions

(assuming you installed to default locations) %ProgramFiles(x86)% is for Windows 7. For Vista and XP use %ProgramFiles%

To get logging information just run the batch file, which you can configure to any of these methods: double click the batch file, create a shortcut, add it to start menu, from a command prompt, or from the start>run dialog.

On versions with User Account Control such as Vista and Windows 7, the batch file must be run with administrator privileges. Right click on the batch file and select "Run as administrator". Otherwise the log file will not be created and no UAC warnings will be generated.

Logging commands can also typed directly in the command prompt instead of running a batch file. On Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server: Start>Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt. On later windows versions, you may type "cmd" and press enter in the launch dialog of the Start button.

Mac OS X

To generate an IMAP protocol log, create a text file that contains the desired commands in a text editor such as BBEdit:

#!/bin/sh
export NSPR_LOG_MODULES=imap:5
export NSPR_LOG_FILE=imap.log
/Applications/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/thunderbird-bin &
if on 10.5 change the above line to arch -arch i386 /Applications/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/thunderbird-bin &

Save this file with a filename ending in .command, add execute permission by typing "chmod a+x filename" in a Terminal window, then double-click it.

To get a log for another protocol, replace "imap" with e.g. "smtp" or "pop3" in the above instructions.

Alternatively, you can setup a file so that the protocol tracing will always be in effect. To do this open a Terminal window, cd into the .MacOSX directory under your login directory and create a file named environment.plist containing the following. Non-unix users can use the "pico" editor which I think is available on OS X by default:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>NSPR_LOG_FILE</key>
<string>/tmp/imaptrace.txt</string>
<key>NSPR_LOG_MODULES</key>
<string>IMAP:5</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Note, line starting with "<!DOCTYPE" should be oneline all the way to "dtd", but I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

Linux/unix

To generate an IMAP protocol log, run the following commands before running the application from the command line:

# For bash shell (the default shell on most GNU/Linux systems):
export NSPR_LOG_MODULES=imap:5
export NSPR_LOG_FILE=/tmp/imap.log

# For tcsh / csh (which is not as common):
setenv NSPR_LOG_MODULES imap:5
setenv NSPR_LOG_FILE /tmp/imap.log

To get a log for another protocol, replace "imap" with e.g. "smtp" or "pop3" in the above instructions.

Missing Log File

If your log file is empty or missing, review this document again, and check for these common problems:

• Do you have write access to the directory specified?
• Did you shut down the mailnews application? (the log file is buffered in memory)
• Did you restart your mailnews application, and wipe out the log of the session you wanted to debug? (every restart wipes out the previous log)
• If you used a batch file on windows, is the batch file set to run with administrator privileges?

Reference Documents

• NSPR Reference (logging)

Other Protocol Logging options within MailNews

The following modules may or may not be available in release builds, but are available in debug builds:

• applemailimportlog
• bayesianfilter
• DockCounts (for logging issues with the mac dock unread count, 3.04 and above)
• gssapi
• imapoffline
• import
• ldapautocomplete
• mapi
• movemail
• msgbiff
• msgcompose
• MsgCopyService (3.3a4 nightly builds starting 5/2/2011)
• msgpurge
• negotiateauth
• nsaboutlookcardlog
• nsaboutlookdirectorylog
• nsabwinhelperlog
• nswabaddressbook

Calendar logging is documented here

Other Important MailNews logging

• Log of Gloda activity to console(Thunderbird only) Debugging Gloda

Other Useful NSPR Logging Options

The following modules may or may not be available in release builds, but are available in debug builds:

• nsDragService

The following modules are not owned by Mail&News, but useful for problem analysis of Mail&News.

• timestamp NSPR Reference, Chapter 26 Logging (Timestamp is added to NSPR log)

• nsHostResolver, nsSocketTransport HTTP_Logging (DNS lookup, Socket log)

• DOMLeak, DocumentLeak, nsDocShellLeak Leak Gauge (Internal load of mail can be traced)

Log Parsing Tools

Logs can be difficult to parse because of their size. Andrew Sutherland has written a parsing script in Python for analyzing these logs. The script may need to be tweaked to suit your needs. There is more information at this bug comment.

TBTracer addon on amo has been made available by Thundersomething author "derdoc" as of recently TBTracer