Making sense of /var/log/messages

If there is one thing that error messages in /var/log/messages are really good for it is for regular expressions practice. I think I am getting better at regex by using the regex tool in geany to sort out and condense the list of errors my system encounters almost daily. I don't know what most of these errors mean but I gather than anything that has "error|warning|failed" is a problem.

I am realizing that the error messages are organized and labeled pretty well. I was able to isolate all the problematic messages from different components of the system with some regexing, sorting, deletion of duplicate lines and numbers within brackets. I guess the numbers within brackets are IDs of sorts but I am just focusing on the unique errors for now. I whittled down the list of 933 lines to around 100. It would have been nice if I could get the count of how many times the error occurred right next to the error line, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Some of these errors/failures/warnings occur numerous times; some as many as 100 times.

Kernel

• pci0000:00: ACPI _OSC request failed (AE_ERROR), returned control mask: 0x1d
• Marking TSC unstable due to check_tsc_sync_source failed
• Not enabling x2apic, Intr-remapping init failed.
• [drm:intel_dsm_platform_mux_info] *ERROR* MUX INFO call failed
• [drm:ironlake_update_pch_refclk] *ERROR* enabling SSC on PCH
• [drm] MTRR allocation failed.Graphics performance may suffer.
• [drm:ironlake_update_pch_refclk] *ERROR* enabling SSC on PCH
• Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 12
• WARNING! power/level is deprecated; use power/control instead
• vlc: segfault at 0 ip 00007effc1acba80 sp 00007eff9a8ec420 error 4 in libtag.so.1.7.0[7effc1a90000+91000]
• [Hardware Error]: Machine check events logged
• usb 2-1.3: clear tt 1 (0040) error -71
• wacom: wacom_sys_irq - usb_submit_urb failed with result -19
• nautilus: segfault at a8 ip 0000000000488444 sp 00007fffed693650 error 4 in nautilus[400000+159000]
• [drm:pch_irq_handler] *ERROR* PCH poison interrupt
• rhythmbox-metad: segfault at 9 ip 0000000000408255 sp 00007fff05453690 error 4 in rhythmbox-metadata[400000+12000]
• rhythmbox-metad: segfault at 9 ip 0000000000408255 sp 00007fff3764fd10

NetworkManager

• GLib-GIO-WARNING **: Missing callback called fullpath = /var/run/ConsoleKit/database
• [nm-device-wifi.c:1815] nm_device_wifi_set_mode(): (wlan0): error setting mode 2
• (wlan0): IP6 addrconf timed out or failed.
• (wlan0): device state change: config -> failed (reason 'supplicant-timeout') [50 120 11]
• (wlan0): device state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none') [120 30 0]
• (wlan0): device state change: ip-config -> failed (reason 'ip-config-unavailable') [70 120 5]
• Activation (wlan0) failed for access point (JetBlue Hotspot)
• [nm-device-wifi.c:1815] nm_device_wifi_set_mode(): (wlan0): error setting mode 2
• (wlan0): IP6 addrconf timed out or failed.
• (wlan0): device state change: config -> failed (reason 'supplicant-timeout') [50 120 11]
• (wlan0): device state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none') [120 30 0]
• (wlan0): device state change: ip-config -> failed (reason 'ip-config-unavailable') [70 120 5]
• Activation (wlan0) failed for access point (JetBlue Hotspot)
• get_secret_flags: assertion `is_secret_prop (setting, secret_name, error)' failed
• bluez error getting default adapter: Unit dbus-org.bluez.service failed to load: No such file or directory. See system logs and 'systemctl status dbus-org.bluez.service' for details.
• Activation (wlan0) failed for access point (RPCIpublic)
• GLib-GIO-WARNING **: Missing callback called fullpath = /var/run/ConsoleKit/database

Hmm.. so basically, everytime I want to connect to a wifi hotspot, the system has this error: Activation (wlan0) failed for access point (ESSID of hotspot) Googling for this error brings up an enormous number of threads, for eg. This is definitely a problem with the kernel module for my wireless card. I guess whoever made that module must not have tested it on multiple-point wireless access spots or where hotspot signals are weak. It does connect comfortably with a single access wireless spot at home. Kind of defeats the mobility of the laptop. Wish the people who made the kernel module would revisit the module in less than ideal wireless scenarios and do some bug-fixing because I am way in over my head trying to troubleshoot this. I tried @uncutsaniflush's suggestion of trying other kernels. Every kernel that I tried and that has a wireless module for my card pretty much has similar problems. So no luck there.

All this drama makes me conclude that the biggest thing that linux has going against it is hardware support. There is no dearth of software genius in the community.

dbus-daemon

• UPower-Linux-WARNING **: energy_full (4.676000) is greater than energy_full_design (4.500000)
• UPower-WARNING **: saving directly to disk as low power
• dbus-daemon: Job failed. See system logs and 'systemctl status' for details.
• dbus-daemon: dbus: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.service failed to load: No such file or directory. See system logs and 'systemctl status dbus-org.bluez.service' for details.
• dbus-daemon: Exception TypeError: "'NoneType' object is not callable" in ignored
• dbus: [system] Activation via systemd failed for unit 'dbus-org.bluez.service': Unit dbus-org.bluez.service failed to load: No such file or directory. See system logs and 'systemctl status dbus-org.bluez.service' for details.

"firstboot"

• Window manager* 0 stored in GConf key /desktop/gnome/peripherals/mouse/cursor_size is out of range 1 to 128
• Window manager* Buggy client sent a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW message with a timestamp of 0 for 0x400031 (firstboot)
• Window manager* CurrentTime used to choose focus window; focus window may not be correct.
• Window manager* Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on display ':9'.
• Window manager* Got a request to focus the no_focus_window with a timestamp of 0. This shouldn't happen!
• Window manager* meta_window_activate called by a pager with a 0 timestamp; the pager needs to be fixed.
• error reading information on service* No such file or directory
• firstboot: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :9.

gdm-simple-slave

• gdm-simple-slave: WARNING: Child process 1240 was already dead.

Erm, what? I often wonder who makes up linux jargon... Do they play a ton of dungeons and dragons? Daemons, slaves, you name it. All the weirdness of game terminology can be seen in the /var/log/messages file.

gnome-session

• DEBUG(+): GsmXsmpServer: sms_error_handler (0x1714a90, FALSE, 3, 9, 32771, 0)
• Gtk-WARNING: Theme parsing error: gtk-widgets.css:58:14: Themeing engine 'unico' not found
• Gdk-WARNING:* Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :0.#012
• WARNING: Application 'gnome-shell.desktop' killed by signal

Others:

• mcelog: HARDWARE ERROR. This is *NOT* a software problem!
• mcelog: mcelog: Unsupported new Family 6 Model 2a CPU: only decoding architectural errors
• nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/11-dhclient' exited with error status 1.
• pulseaudio: bluetooth-util.c: Error from ListAdapters reply: org.freedesktop.systemd1.LoadFailed
• systemctl: Failed to issue method call: No such file or directory
• systemd: Failed to read PID file /run/sendmail.pid after start. The service might be broken.
• systemd: Failed to read PID file /run/sm-client.pid after start. The service might be broken.
• systemd: Unit sendmail.service entered failed state.
• udev-configure-printer: Failed to get parent

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Text Processing Tools:
Apart from regexing, I found TextOpus online I wish I could write perl programs that replicate the functionality of this tool. Or just download an offline version of the tool.

Actually I just want to be as skilled as Tomasz Klekot at text processing.