GUI notifications from syslog

[Tom Metro]

Kevin D. Clark wrote:
> I used to use a program called "contool"
> that did exactly what you describe.
>   http://www.freshports.org/sysutils/contool

   It is a replacement for the standard X console.  Contool will flash
   its icon and beep when messages are written to the icon, so you can
   keep it closed on your desktop until a message arrives.

"Standard X console?" I didn't know there was such a thing. Are they 
referring to an xterm?

Thanks for the pointer. This approach many have an advantage over the 
approach I was considering in that it sounds like it'll display anything 
written to the traditional system console, which would catch more than 
just what syslog might write.

But the end result would be less modern in appearance and less 
integrated with the desktop than using libnotify (which generates little 
pop-up messages in the corner of the screen).


> This was an XView program, but it seems like maybe some group of
> people ported it along the way.

The page you linked to suggests it still depends on XView libraries. 
There's no Ubuntu package for contool, but the libraries are available, 
so it shouldn't be too hard to build from source. No mention of it at 
Freshmeat.net or Sourceforge, and the relevant Google hits seem to be 
just other BSD ports.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/