pkg history enhancements

With the putback of:

changeset:   2135:6eeb55920e13
tag:         tip
user:        Tim Foster
date:        Wed Nov 10 11:32:32 2010 +1300
description:
	3419 history command -- ability to specify dates or date ranges desired
	17012 pkg history should include boot environment or snapshot information
	17013 pkg history subcommand should display boot environment and snapshot information
	17222 pkg history could use a -o option

the pkg ‘history’ subcommand now has some new features.

We now record the name of the boot environment the operation was applied to, any ZFS clones created, and any ZFS snapshots taken during the course of the operation.

In addition, pkg history can also accept a comma-separated list of column names to print different output. The known column names at the moment are:

be

The name of the boot environment this operation was started on

client

The name of the client

client_ver

The version of the client

command

The command line used for this operation

finish

The time that this operation finished

id

The user id that started this operation

new_be

The new boot environment created by this operation

operation

The name of the operation

outcome

A summary of the outcome of this operation

reason

Additional information on the outcome of this operation

snapshot

The snapshot taken during this operation. This is only recorded if the snapshot was not automatically removed after successful operation completion

start

The time that this operation started

time

The total time taken to perform this operation (for operations that take less than a second, “0:00:00” will be printed)

user

The username that started this operation

The old “result” column has been split into “result” and “reason” to preserve field formatting, and the old “time” column has been renamed to “start”. The “time” column now contains the total operation time (“finish” – “start” times) – I figured, that calculating the total operation time might be useful, rather than expecting users to do it manually.

Finally, pkg history gets a ‘-t’ flag, allowing users to specify a comma separated list of dates, or ranges of dates they’re interested in. Previously users could only choose to see all events or the last ‘n’ events with the -n flag.

I really like the history subcommand – I’ve found that being able to see over time which packages have been installed and removed from the system, and which operations have failed or succeeded is extremely useful. Being able to find detailed information about how packages have been managed over time gives quite an insight into how people use software. It’d be interesting to use this as input on deciding how to craft custom distributions of Solaris that contain the software that people use in the real world.

We didn’t have a history function in SVR4 that I’m aware of – another point in favour of IPS. History Lives on in Historic Historyville!

Fireworks, 2010

For the past few years, every Halloween, we’ve had fireworks in Dublin. I go out, take photos, post them on my blog along with a bit of a commentary on what I got up to during the day. I generally also give a nod to Z-Day along the way (back in 2005, I was working on the ZFS test team when we integrated into Solaris, something I still feel proud to have been a part of)

This was the first year in a long time that I’ve not done that, and while my birthday was great in every other way, I really missed the fireworks. Halloween just isn’t a big thing here in NZ, and I think that’s a shame. In or around my birthday, since the day I was born, there’s always been something extra special in Ireland – fireworks, a spooky atmosphere, and some pretty wonderful parties (I like to think Tim’s Halloween Fancy Dress parties had a bit of a reputation, back in the day)

It turns out that NZ, with it’s colonial background, has more celebrations for November 5th than it does for Halloween, and Wellington seems to go all-out on the fireworks front. So, armed with my 70-200 f4 (no tripod, I enjoy the swirling pattern that you get from handheld fireworks photos) I took off up to the hills of Khandallah this evening, ditched the car wherever I could find some space, and rushed to find a vantage point. I didn’t get the best spot, but I was reasonably happy with the photos I got nonetheless.

The SmugMug album is here, and I’ve thrown in a few thumbnails below (if you want them bigger, go for the SmugMug link instead). I’m looking forward to next year’s fireworks already, wherever I’ll be at that stage.