Elog
Encyclopedia
ELOG is a generic term and it is an abbreviation for "electronic log". There are many forms of an "electronic log". The rest of this article details one particular software application that is used as an elog. Its name is "ELOG" - it's home page is at http://midas.psi.ch/elog/.
ELOG is a Web application
written by Stefan Ritt in C
which can be used to create personal and common logbooks. It has been developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute
originally for shift logbooks in particle physics experiments
, but is now widely used in other fields. Besides the CERN
experiments LHCb
and CMS
is it used on the US coastguard icebreaker USCGC Healy and part of the Debian
distribution.
ELOG is licensed under the GNU General Public License
as free software
. It is currently available in 13 languages.
The main difference between ELOG and other systems is the fact that ELOG does not depend on any other package such as a database server or PHP
. A single executable together with a configuration file make it very simple to install and use.
, MS Windows, FreeBSD
, Mac OS X
and Solaris. ELOG is part of the Debian
distribution.
ELOG is a Web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
written by Stefan Ritt in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
which can be used to create personal and common logbooks. It has been developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute
Paul Scherrer Institute
The Paul Scherrer Institute is a multi-disciplinary research institute which belongs to the Swiss ETH-Komplex covering also the ETH Zurich and EPFL...
originally for shift logbooks in particle physics experiments
Particle physics experiments
Particle physics experiments briefly discusses a number of past, present, and proposed experiments with particle accelerators, throughout the world. In addition, some important accelerator interactions are discussed...
, but is now widely used in other fields. Besides the CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
experiments LHCb
LHCb
LHCb is one of six particle physics detector experiments collecting data at the Large Hadron Collider accelerator at CERN. LHCb is a specialized b-physics experiment, that is measuring the parameters of CP violation in the interactions of b-hadrons...
and CMS
Compact Muon Solenoid
The Compact Muon Solenoid experiment is one of two large general-purpose particle physics detectors built on the proton-proton Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland and France. Approximately 3,600 people from 183 scientific institutes, representing 38 countries form the CMS collaboration...
is it used on the US coastguard icebreaker USCGC Healy and part of the Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
distribution.
ELOG is licensed under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
as free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
. It is currently available in 13 languages.
Description
ELOG combines a small internal database with a web front-end in a single program. It can be configured though a single configuration file for different applications such as:- Personal logbooks. People can write down notes in a chronological order ('entries') and retrieve them with a web browser.
- Shared logbooks. Logbooks can be shared among several people with read and optional write access. The most common use of this are shift logbooks replacing the traditional paper logbook. ELOG was originally developed for the MEG Experiment at PSIPaul Scherrer InstituteThe Paul Scherrer Institute is a multi-disciplinary research institute which belongs to the Swiss ETH-Komplex covering also the ETH Zurich and EPFL...
. - Small databases. ELOG can be configured with arbitrary attributes and thus serve a simple database with search facilities for typically a few thousand entries.
- Discussion forums. The possibility to use threads and automatic email notifications make this software useful for (simple) news group servers.
- Bug tracker. ELOG can be configured to work as a simple Bug tracking systemBug tracking systemA bug tracking system is a software application that is designed to help quality assurance and programmers keep track of reported software bugs in their work. It may be regarded as a type of issue tracking system....
with email notifications and a database for open/fixed bugs. - Any combination of the above hosted on a single site.
The main difference between ELOG and other systems is the fact that ELOG does not depend on any other package such as a database server or PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
. A single executable together with a configuration file make it very simple to install and use.
Platforms
ELOG consists of a single C program and can be compiled on most systems. Most commonly it is used under LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, MS Windows, FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
and Solaris. ELOG is part of the Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
distribution.