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tstack
lnav
C++2015–2026
tstack / lnav

lnav

Log file navigator

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Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
12Distinct people
22Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
10.8KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Log file navigator

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

> I also don't see something else I might want: a way to have a different "view" for certain log messages; maybe to switch between filtering/viewing particular ones, maybe to…

tstack used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 4:01:40 AM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year22 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2015-03-31 12:24:12 UTC to 2026-03-24 14:31:00 UTC.

02462015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20152016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20202021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 0 submissions, 4 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 2 submissions, 4 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 0 submissions, 4 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC110
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC110
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC404
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC624
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC404

What Hacker News says

4 sources
jamessb·Nov 2, 2023
It looks like they run an SSH server inside a Docker container defined by this Dockerfile [1]. This uses the ForceCommand directive in the sshd_config file to ensure that a specific command is run when a user connects (rather than the user connecting directly to a shell). Depending on whether the user connects as the `playground` or `tutorial1` user they interact with a bash script that is either [2] or [3]; these run lnav, using the timeout command to limit how long users are connected for, and to kill the lnav process if it gets stuck. [1]: https://github.com/tstack/lnav/blob/master/demo/Dockerfile [2]: https://github.com/tstack/lnav/blob/master/docs/tutorials/pl... [3]: https://github.com/tstack/lnav/blob/master/docs/tutorials/tu...
In Ask HN: How does `lnav` run its playground which you can just SSH into?
tstack·Aug 23, 2023Recommendation phrase
> I also don't see something else I might want: a way to have a different "view" for certain log messages; maybe to switch between filtering/viewing particular ones, maybe to just have line-format be conditional based on the detected format. Have a look at the following comment on an issue that might be similar to what you're thinking of: https://github.com/tstack/lnav/issues/1065#issuecomment-1602... > I guess I can sort of do this based on `module-field`? but I might want it lighter-weight/finer-grained than that. Unfortunately, the "module-field" does not work for JSON logs at the moment. It's something I should really fix. Ultimately, lnav has existed for almost two decades now and I use it every day. So, it's always seeing improvements. If you're having a problem with it, file an issue on github. I don't always get around quickly
Read the rest
to fixing other folks feature requests / issues, but it tends to happen eventually. Thanks.
In Structured logging with slog
tstack·Aug 23, 2023
> But if some log message uses an attribute you haven't anticipated in the format definition, there's no way to see it in the pretty-printed output Properties in the log message that are not in the "line-format" are displayed below the message as key-value pairs. As an example, the bunyan[1] log format[2] has a few standard properties that are used in the "line-format" to form the main message. Then, as shown in this test[3] for this log[4], the remaining properties (even ones not mentioned in the format file) are shown underneath. > or filter on it in the UI Since they are part of the message as mentioned above, they can be filtered on. > and no ability to see it in the SQLite virtual table. The "log_raw_text" column in the table can be used to access the original log message from the file. So, you can use the JSON functions in SQLite
Read the rest
to retrieve the value: ;SELECT log_raw_text ->> '$.repository' from bunyan [1] - https://github.com/trentm/node-bunyan [2] - https://github.com/tstack/lnav/blob/master/src/formats/bunya... [3] - https://github.com/tstack/lnav/blob/master/test/expected/tes... [4] - https://github.com/tstack/lnav/blob/master/test/logfile_buny...
In Structured logging with slog

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