[GH-ISSUE #3778] [FEATURE] Add timestamps to logs that don't support them #2484

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opened 2026-02-27 03:03:16 +03:00 by kerem · 2 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-27 03:03:16 +03:00

Owner

Originally created by @DrissiReda on GitHub (Feb 8, 2022).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/GameServerManagers/LinuxGSM/issues/3778

User Story

As a server admin, I want to be able to view timestamps for my server logs.

Basic info

Distro: [Debian 11]
Game: [Test on Rust, but probably applicable to others]
Command: [Start]
LinuxGSM version: [latest]

Implementation

I have tried to implement this after interacting with the Github mods gentlemen on Discord.

I have found that we can prepend all lines of log with the timestamp by modifying these lines:

Should be changed to:

tmux pipe-pane -o -t "${sessionname}" "exec bash -c \"cat | $add_ts\" >> '${consolelog}'"

With a global variable (using gawk for readability)

add_ts='gawk '"'"'{ print strftime(\"[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S]\"), \$0 }'"'"''

Or without gawk we can just put this script in a one liner:

while IFS= read -r line
do 
    printf "[%s] %s\n" "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')" "$line";
done

I tested this on my rustserver, and the output:

Asset Warmup (1/9092)
Asset Warmup (408/9092)
Asset Warmup (434/9092)
Asset Warmup (1088/9092)

Becomes:

[2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (1/9092)
[2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (408/9092)
[2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (434/9092)
[2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (1088/9092)

I didn't add a check to manage lines with whitespaces because that would make the code too complex and unreadable.

We can also use ts from moreutils package but it adds dependencies:

tmux pipe-pane -o -t "${sessionname}" "exec bash -c \"cat | ts '[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S]' \" >> '${consolelog}'"

We can also add a global variable to activate timestamps on certain games, not all. And a variable for the format.

Although this solution is not ideal, because the timestamp won't be precise for every line, but each time tmux dumps logs to the file, every line included in that dump will have the same timestamp of the moment the dump occurs. It still is much better than no timestamps at all in my opinion.

I'd like your feedback on this. Would you like something like this to be included in your code? Do you think there is something else I should add for this to be included in your codebase?
I'd like your feedback on this.

Originally created by @DrissiReda on GitHub (Feb 8, 2022). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/GameServerManagers/LinuxGSM/issues/3778 ## User Story As a server admin, I want to be able to view timestamps for my server logs. ## Basic info * **Distro:** [Debian 11] * **Game:** [Test on Rust, but probably applicable to others] * **Command:** [Start] * **LinuxGSM version:** [latest] ## Implementation I have tried to implement this after interacting with the Github mods gentlemen on Discord. I have found that we can prepend all lines of log with the timestamp by modifying these lines: - https://github.com/GameServerManagers/LinuxGSM/blob/fdfeae1fcdccb89f55e41ca33e964bbcb035d2ce/lgsm/functions/command_start.sh#L95 - https://github.com/GameServerManagers/LinuxGSM/blob/fdfeae1fcdccb89f55e41ca33e964bbcb035d2ce/lgsm/functions/command_start.sh#L111 Should be changed to: ```bash tmux pipe-pane -o -t "${sessionname}" "exec bash -c \"cat | $add_ts\" >> '${consolelog}'" ``` With a global variable (using `gawk` for readability) ```bash add_ts='gawk '"'"'{ print strftime(\"[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S]\"), \$0 }'"'"'' ``` Or without gawk we can just put this script in a one liner: ```bash while IFS= read -r line do printf "[%s] %s\n" "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')" "$line"; done ``` I tested this on my rustserver, and the output: ``` Asset Warmup (1/9092) Asset Warmup (408/9092) Asset Warmup (434/9092) Asset Warmup (1088/9092) ``` Becomes: ``` [2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (1/9092) [2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (408/9092) [2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (434/9092) [2022-02-08 18:03:26] Asset Warmup (1088/9092) ``` I didn't add a check to manage lines with whitespaces because that would make the code too complex and unreadable. We can also use `ts` from `moreutils` package but it adds dependencies: ``` tmux pipe-pane -o -t "${sessionname}" "exec bash -c \"cat | ts '[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S]' \" >> '${consolelog}'" ``` We can also add a global variable to activate timestamps on certain games, not all. And a variable for the format. Although this solution is not ideal, because the timestamp won't be precise for every line, but each time tmux dumps logs to the file, every line included in that dump will have the same timestamp of the moment the dump occurs. It still is much better than no timestamps at all in my opinion. I'd like your feedback on this. Would you like something like this to be included in your code? Do you think there is something else I should add for this to be included in your codebase? I'd like your feedback on this.

kerem

2026-02-27 03:03:16 +03:00

closed this issue
added the
type: feature

command: console

distro: Debian

command: mods

command: start

info: tmux
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kerem commented

2026-02-27 03:03:16 +03:00

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Owner

@Claiyc commented on GitHub (Feb 16, 2022):

Imo, generally a good idea, but not a priority atm. Feel free to create a pull request if you feel like you're able to implement it yourself.

@Claiyc commented on GitHub (Feb 16, 2022): Imo, generally a good idea, but not a priority atm. Feel free to create a pull request if you feel like you're able to implement it yourself.

kerem commented

2026-02-27 03:03:16 +03:00

Author

Owner

@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Apr 15, 2024):

This issue has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. Please open a new issue for related bugs.

@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Apr 15, 2024): This issue has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. Please open a new issue for related bugs.