OH3, OH4 Running as service on Windows creates spurious ../log folder with openhab.log empty

Setup, Configuration and Use Migration
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1

Hi All

I run openHAB as a service on a Windows machine (and yes, I know…)

I have reported once before regarding an extra log folder which gets created, but was not able to find the cause. I have now had a chance to do some debugging, but still can’t find the cause.

I followed the following to perform a fresh install:

The initial start using the start.bat file works as expected, with no extra folder/directory created:

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However, aftre following the steps to create a Windows Service, and when using the created service to start openHAB, an extra folder get s created called C:\openHAB\userdata\log, should be C:\openHAB\userdata\logs.

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The spurious folder contains an openhab.log file but the size remains at 0bytes.

It appears that the folder is created due to some config in C:\openHAB\userdata\etc\openHAB-wrapper.conf, I however cannot find what that would be.

It is also noteworthy that starting openhab via the start.bat file instead of the service also does not create th extra folder.

Anyone have any idea what the cause could be and how to fix?

Thanks
Mark

2

Hi.

I’m also using OpenHab as a Windows service (and Yes, I know too :slight_smile: ) and I also get the extra /log folder exactly how you describe with the empty openhab.log file.
The folder is only created when starting the service and not when using start.bat
I thought It was just me but couldn’t find a cause either.

While I don’t have an answer for you it does mean there is a common bug somewhere in the service-wrapper feature.

I’m assuming the wrapper feature is part of Karaf and not OpenHab core but where to go from here, I’m not sure.
I’ll have a look around and let you know if I find anything.
Hopefully there’s more users out there using Windows that could help

3

I run OH on a Windows mini-computer and I do see that extra folder when I run it as a service. However, I have no explanation. Since upgrading to 3.4 I now run OH in the foreground since I was getting java heap related crashes when running it as a service.

4

HI Guys,

I think I have found the problem!
Now that I know it wasn’t just my config I just needed to look deeper.

It seems that’s the default Karaf Log folder is created as /log under the Karaf Base folder. In this case the base folder is C:\OpenHab\userdata which is set in the /etc/openHAB-wrapper.conf file

The problem is the Default Karaf log folder is not set in that config file so stays at the /log default.
I added the line below to the wrapper config after %OPENHAB_USERDATA% is set, Deleted the /log folder and restarted the service.
The folder did not reappear.

set.default.KARAF_LOG=%OPENHAB_USERDATA%\logs

Screen shot below for context.

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Try it out and let me know if it works for you.
I think the Docs need to be changed to include that extra line. If the above works for you I’ll do a PR on the Docs.

1 Like
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Thank you. That seems to be the solution.