DSpace System Documentation: Directories and Files

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Overview

A complete DSpace installation consists of three separate directory trees:

The source directory:

This is where (surprise!) the source code lives. Note that the config files here are used only during the initial install process. After the install, config files should be changed in the install directory. It is referred to in this document as [dspace-source].

The install directory:

This directory is populated during the install process and also by DSpace as it runs. It contains config files, command-line tools (and the libraries necessary to run them), and usually--although not necessarily--the contents of the DSpace archive (depending on how DSpace is configured). After the initial build and install, changes to config files should be made in this directory. It is referred to in this document as [dspace].

The web deployment directory:

This directory is generated by the web server the first time it finds a dspace.war file in its webapps directory. It contains the unpacked contents of dspace.war, i.e. the JSPs and java classes and libraries necessary to run DSpace. Files in this directory should never be edited directly; if you wish to modify your DSpace installation, you should edit files in the source directory and then rebuild. The contents of this directory aren't listed here since its creation is completely automatic. It is usually referred to in this document as [tomcat]/webapps/dspace.

Source Directory Layout

Installed Directory Layout

Below is the basic layout of a DSpace installation using the default configuration. These paths can be configured if necessary.

Contents of Web Application

DSpace's Ant build file creates a .war file with the following structure:

Log Files

The first source of potential confusion is the log files. Since DSpace uses a number of third-party tools, problems can occur in a variety of places. Below is a table listing the main log files used in a typical DSpace setup. The locations given are defaults, and might be different for your system depending on where you installed DSpace and the third-party tools. The ordering of the list is roughly the recommended order for searching them for the details about a particular problem or error.

DSpace Log File Locations
Log File What's In It
[dspace]/log/dspace.log Main DSpace log file. This is where the DSpace code writes a simple log of events and errors that occur within the DSpace code. You can control the verbosity of this by editing the [dspace]/config/templates/log4j.properties file and then running [dspace]/bin/install-configs.
[tomcat]/logs/catalina.out This is where Tomcat's standard output is written. Many errors that occur within the Tomcat code are logged here. For example, if Tomcat can't find the DSpace code (dspace.jar), it would be logged in catalina.out.
[tomcat]/logs/hostname_log.yyyy-mm-dd.txt If you're running Tomcat stand-alone (without Apache), it logs some information and errors for specific Web applications to this log file. hostname will be your host name (e.g. dspace.myu.edu) and yyyy-mm-dd will be the date.
[tomcat]/logs/apache_log.yyyy-mm-dd.txt If you're using Apache, Tomcat logs information about Web applications running through Apache (mod_webapp) in this log file (yyyy-mm-dd being the date.)
[apache]/error_log Apache logs to this file. If there is a problem with getting mod_webapp working, this is a good place to look for clues. Apache also writes to several other log files, though error_log tends to contain the most useful information for tracking down problems.
[dspace]/log/handle-plug.log The Handle server runs as a separate process from the DSpace Web UI (which runs under Tomcat's JVM). Due to a limitation of log4j's 'rolling file appenders', the DSpace code running in the Handle server's JVM must use a separate log file. The DSpace code that is run as part of a Handle resolution request writes log information to this file. You can control the verbosity of this by editing [dspace]/config/templates/log4j-handle-plugin.properties.
[dspace]/log/handle-server.log This is the log file for CNRI's Handle server code. If a problem occurs within the Handle server code, before DSpace's plug-in is invoked, this is where it may be logged.
[dspace]/handle-server/error.log On the other hand, a problem with CNRI's Handle server code might be logged here.
PostgreSQL log PostgreSQL also writes a log file. This one doesn't seem to have a default location, you probably had to specify it yourself at some point during installation. In general, this log file rarely contains pertinent information--PostgreSQL is pretty stable, you're more likely to encounter problems with connecting via JDBC, and these problems will be logged in dspace.log.

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