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Deleting Diagnostic and Viewing Logs from Bash Prompt
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Posted by: larzo

Greetings all,

I know the privacy issue has been beaten to death in other posts so I would prefer it does not get revisited at this time...

First off, I must say I love my TiVo and have no problem whatsoever paying for the subscription, I just don't want any info leaving my unit - diagnostic or otherwise (and yes I have opted out).

My question should be relatively simple (although I have read, read and read some more and can't find it). Which files in which directories should be removed prior to TiVo phoning home? Otto had mentioned a script to automate this process that was in an old post but I was unable to find it.

Once again, I would prefer to avoid the philosophical discussions - from all my reading into this issue I firmly believe that all angles have been covered...

Thanks, Larzo

Posted by: larzo

Hmmmmm... Perhaps I've stumbled upon a Taboo or unanswerable Topic... Perhaps the dudes with tinfoil on their heads are correct...

Posted by: Worf

That's easy. First call up TiVo customer care at that toll free number and ask them to stop recording your statistics. Then you can probably go and delete everything in /var/log safely...

Posted by: larzo

Worf,

Thanks for you reply. From what I have read in the last several days this is most likely a non-issue. However, being a fan of sci-fi (George Orwell's book "1984") and having perhaps an overly active imagination it is my feeling that no benefits exist (for the user at least) and this is a tad too "Big Brother-ish" for me. AC/DC summed it up pretty well in a song from the movie Maximum Overdrive with the lyric "the database got my number..." and I would like to keep the number of databases that have mine to a minimum...

Posted by: larzo

Oops,

One other question. Seemed to be about 10 files in the /var/log directory. Can they be all be deleted? If that's the case even a linux newbie/idiot like myself can probably write a script to do this...

Posted by: Otto

Take a good hard look at the dialup and data sending/receieving scripts. You'll find there's a simple setting to change to have the Tivo not send data anymore. I don't know what the setting is offhand, but it's not hard to find.

------------------
<FONT size="1">Otto, Zen TiVo Master - Moderator - AVS Tivo Forums - Tivo Underground, Tivo Coffee House
"The way of the portable computer user is as a stony path strewn with plugs and sockets, all the wrong size..." -- Terry Pratchett</FONT s>

Posted by: larzo

Otto, Thanks much for your response. Does anyone happen to know which directory the dialup scripts are in and what they are called. Also, what is a good editor to use? I have used joe and it seems pretty much like the old DOS editors I am used to. Is vm any better? Please excuse the linux newbieness - I'm not quite to the "knows enough to be dangerous" stage... but I will say that learning is 90% of the fun...

Posted by: sjf

Um, did you not believe the answers that you got from your "cry uncle" thread in "another forum" (Yo Ho HO!)?

Posted by: jimdan

Those logs say all!!! They know you have TiVonet, they know you use Ethernet to get the data. They know what time you brush your teeth...

Posted by: larzo

In response to sjf's post:

Arrrrg, matey - perhaps me parrot was blockin' me view of me CRT - or maybe I got too much rum in me peg leg and its foggin' me mind... Gettin' closer to boardin' them there logs but readin' those treasure maps can be a wee bit difficult (esp. if their written in linux)...

In response to jimdan's post:

Indeed.

Posted by: sjf

LOLROF:

Well, me matie, p-haps we should return to 'our treasure -- argh!

Seriously, there were other files mentioned there that were missed (i'm sure by accident). Anyway, this is not the right arena to discuss this.

Where's my bottle of rum? (the burbon is running low!)

Posted by: larzo

perhaps yer right matey... mods, feel free to torpedo this thread if necessary...

Posted by: Worf

That was the reason why I asked to call TiVo up to stop collecting the information -- it sets the bit needed in the script, so you won't upload the data. Once that's done, you can either always delete the appropriate files and link them to /dev/null. The bit gets set the next time you call up or something (plus, it notifies TiVo to not collect the data -- otherwise they might think something is wrong or work-around people hacking it this way). Plus, if they accidentally collect your data (due to an accident or software change, say), you can say you've notified them, and thus, must stop collecting.

Of course, the other reason is that TiVo made it utterly convenient for you to perform the opt-out (hey, it's toll-free), compared to some other companies (hmm. no e-mail tech support. no web site tech support. only option is office-hours-only long distance, and I don't know about you, but holding for 3 hours on your dime isn't cheap).

Posted by: larzo

Worf,

Thanks for your response. I'm still a bit foggy... However, I think I've got enough info to spend some quality time at the bash prompt figuring all this out... and as I've stated before, thats most the fun....

Posted by: Worf

Hence all the more to call TiVo first. That way you know that they know that you don't want your info logged (IIRC, TiVo actually requests the data, which your TiVo can send, or if you set the bit, not send. I think if you opt-out, they don't even bother sending the request anymore, except when they need to debug?). Plus, in case it takes longer for you to figure it out, well, you've been operating under someone's assurances (tiny bit better than knowing they do).

But basically, once you're at the bash prompt, it's just using ln -s to create the symbolic links of the log files to the bitbucket known as /dev/null.

Posted by: larzo

Worf,

Thanks again, I actually opted out before doing anything else. However, I'm a member of the trust, but verify (or in this case - delete) club. I plan on spending some quality time getting to know linux a bit better and I'm sure it will all start making more sense at that point...

Posted by: Worf

It helps to have an actual Linux system running on something other than the TiVo -- at least you get the man/info pages!

(Personally, I can *never* remember the order of the arguments to ln... anyone?)