#10 Use pcre to transform messages logged.

[elijah saxon]

Unlike apache, most daemons do not allow you to
customize the format of the messages logged.

It would be very useful if metalog could do this for
you, using pcre to remove, rearrange, or add
information to each message.

Why would this be useful? I can think of several uses:

(1) improve the readability of a log file.

(2) make a log file usable with an analysis tool which
would otherwise not work.

(3) voluntarily choose to omit information from the
logs (as they are created) which you do not want to keep.

This last reason is why I am interested. Legally, you
are not required to retain information on people who
use your server. However, you might be required to turn
over to the authorities any information which you have
retained. This has happened several times to
indymedia.org sites.

The solution for independent media sites has been to
patch and hack many daemons to remove sensitive
information. As a free speech issue, people have felt
it is important to make it possible for people to
communicate anonymously.

This 'solution' is painful. A much better idea would be
to use a syslog replacement with the ability to modify
log messages.