Designing the user interface for software isn't trivial, and requires
changes in the behavior depending upon users' comments and behavior.
I like amanda, but if people don't understand a software message, then
it isn't clear, regardless of how clear it is to you.
Your decisions are very reasonable, but I suggest that the warning or
error message be clearer about what the message means. Add a line to
the amcheck output which says either:
1. This is OK. The directory will be automatically created when you
run amdump.
2. This is not OK. You must create the file.
Reading through 7 pages of error messages may not happen. If the
software can be simply changed so that the user doesn't have to read
additional documentation, this is a good thing.
Jon LaBadie <jon AT jgcomp DOT com> writes:
> On Tue, Apr 05, 2005 at 04:33:44PM -0700, Kevin Dalley wrote:
>> Yes, these are different issues, but have some similar issues. The
>> big question is whether the messages are simple for a casual user to
>> understand.
>>
>>
>> If the file/directory will be automatically created, then amanda
>> should say warn about the problem, and say that the file/directory
>> will be automatically created. This lets the user decide whether to
>> worry about the issue. The note is good, because there might be a
>> typo, but letting the user know that amanda will work anyway is also
>> necessary. Otherwise, the user has to search through the
>> documentation to decide whether a directory needs to be created.
>>
>> Since the directory gets created in some cases where there is a
>> warning, the user (including me) might have trouble remembering when
>> the file or directory is created and when it isn't. Sure, if you
>> understand the inner workings of amanda, it more or less makes sense
>> that log directories are not created. However, there should be a
>> clear warning that the log directory does not exist and that amanda
>> will fail.
>>
>>
>> Jon LaBadie <jon AT jgcomp DOT com> writes:
>>
>> > On Mon, Apr 04, 2005 at 11:31:06AM -0700, Kevin Dalley wrote:
>> >> Amanda should be clearer on this issue. I think that there is one
>> >> similar case where amanda says that the file/directory will be created
>> >> next time around. However, the log directory won't be created, if you
>> >> add a new config. This is confusing.
>> >>
>> >
>> > I think there is a very significant difference. In the case of the logdir,
>> > indexdir, and infofile (actually a directory), these are settings in the
>> > amanda.conf file and specify places that amanda will use to store lots of
>> > data and log files. Amanda will not create these parameter specified
>> > repositories and will not run if they do not exist.
>> >
>> > The OP of this thread received a NOTE about missing data and log files,
>> > not the top level directories specified in the amanda.conf file. These
>> > are missing because a DLE was added to the disklist. amanda will happily
>> > create the logs for any DLE in the when it does run, but it does not create
>> > the directory to hold all of the many DLE logs.
>> >
>> > One reason for the NOTE is the possibility of an editing error when someone
>> > changes the disklist. Suppose you changed the dumptype or spindle number
>> > or ??? of an existing DLE. And further, you changed, without intending to,
>> > the host or tag or directory for that DLE. To amanda, it would look like
>> > a new entry in the disklist and you would get the warning perhaps alerting
>> > you to your error.
>> >
>>
>
> The clear 'warning' is the word "ERROR:" in front of the message.
>
> There are actually three levels of severity in the messages from amcheck
> NOTE, WARNING, and ERROR
>
>
> ERROR: holding disk /w2/dumps/amanda/DS1: statfs: No such file or directory
> ERROR: log dir /usr/local/etc/amanda/DS1/logs: not writable
>
> WARNING: holding disk /w/dumps/amanda/DS1: only 2096794 KB free, using nothing
> WARNING: skipping tape test because amdump or amflush seem to be running
> WARNING: if they are not, you must run amcleanup
>
> NOTE: info dir /usr/local/etc/amanda/DS1/curinfo/butch/StaticFS-1: does not
> exist
>
>
> The first two are fatal, no sense running amdump.
>
> The second two may require some action before running amdump.
>
> The last one is basically informational.
>
>
> Here is what the manpage for amcheck says about the last message.
>
> NOTE: XXX dir directory: does not exist
> (info) A database (info) or index directory does not
> exist or cannot be accessed. This might just mean this
> is a new client or disk, but if that is not the case,
> this should be treated as an error.
>
> That is just one of the many messages described on the amcheck manpage.
> Approximately seven of nine pages are devoted to message description.
>
> --
> Jon H. LaBadie jon AT jgcomp DOT com
> JG Computing
> 4455 Province Line Road (609) 252-0159
> Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
>
--
Kevin Dalley
kevin AT kelphead DOT org
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