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Accepted
Goulash
Asked: 2012-04-05 07:34:49 +0800 CST

How can I get the command log of a particular user on Ubuntu Server?

  • 772

Is there a way to find a log of all the commands that have been run by a user on Ubuntu 11.10 Server? I need to find out what my friend ran to install a program.

server command-line users logging

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If you use something like bash as a command interpreter, you could check the history.

    more /home/user/.bash_history
    • 10

  2. Follow these instructions (revised from this answer).

    1. Modify the /etc/bash.bashrc

    2. Append the below line the end of that file

       export PROMPT_COMMAND='RETRN_VAL=$?;logger -p local6.debug "$(whoami) [$$]: $(history 1 | sed "s/[ ][0-9]+[ ]//" ) [$RETRN_VAL]"'

    3. Create a new file

      /etc/rsyslog.d/bash.conf

    4. Add the line to the file 

      local6.*    /var/log/commands.log

    5. Add line to the file /etc/logrotate.d/rsyslog .

      Nearby: 

      /var/log/mail.warn
/var/log/mail.err
[...]
/var/log/message

      Add this

      /var/log/commands.log

    6. Restart the rsyslog.

      sudo service rsyslog restart
    • -2