X-Statistics FAQ
- Which data is analysed by X-Statistics?
-
X-Statistics reads the files system.log, system.log.0.gz -
system.log.7.gz (if present). Only the data from these files will
be analysed. This means X-Statistics does no collect any data
itself and therefore it must not run any background tasks to get
any information. Also you don't have to wait some time until
enough data is collected, X-Statistics can immediately use all
the data the MacOSX already has logged in the past.
- Are there any restrictions?
-
The data that is read by X-Statistics need administrator
privileges. So you have to login as administrator to be able
to use X-Statistics.
MacOS X writes many details into the system.log files. But unfortunately not all data that would be useful is really written into these files. Some details are probably even missing in the logfiles because of bugs in MacOSX.
For example MacOSX logs the exact time the computer is put into sleep mode. But it does not log the time when it is awake again. This information can only be retreived indirectly by other entries in the logfile. For example when FileSharing is enabled before the computer is put into sleep mode, FileSharing will be restarted immediately again, when the computer is awake, and this will be logged in the logfiles. So in this case the exact wake-up time is know. But if no other service like FileSharing is running, nothing must be restarted after the computer is awake and so nothing is written into the logfile immediately. So in this case the sleep times that were displayed by X-Statistics could be larger than they really are.
- Why doesn't show X-Statistics anything in its windows?
-
The logfiles which are read by X-Statistics can only be
accessed with administrator privileges. So you have to
login as administrator in MacOSX.
- How long does MacOSX keep its logfiles?
-
Like other Unix systems MacOS X will tidy up the logfile
(deleting old ones) in the background at certain times.
Usually these things will be done in the night. And usually
a Mac will be switched off or is sleeping at night, so the
MacOSX will often never tidy up its logfiles (this is the
reason why there are several tools available which allow
to tidy up the logfiles manually). In principle this
situation is positive for X-Statistics because it is unlikely
that data gets lost. But be aware that either the MacOS or
the tools mentioned above may delete old logfiles. MacOS X
keeps 7 system logfiles. Each time the logfiles are tidied
up, the oldes logfile will be deleted, so when your Mac is
running 24 hours a day, you only have data of the last 7
days in the logfiles.
- Why does X-Statistics only shows the data of the last 12 months?
-
In the logfiles the data and time information does not
include the year. So if there's data available for more
than one year it can be tricky to correctly handle all
the data, especially if the clock was not always set
correctly (see next point).
- What happens, if the clock of the mac was not set correctly for a while?
- If the clock was not set correctly (for example because the backup batterie was empty and therefore the clock was set to 1.1.1970) X-Statistics tries to ignore this period of time.