Catching griefers

[Menche]

Griefers can be hard to catch, because they usually do their thing when nobody else is online, and the server doesn't log what players do. The server does print out what blocks are broken and by who. I've been trying to figure out a good way to save this information to catch griefers.

stderr output (which contains information about broken blocks) can be saved to a file by launching minetest like this:

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minetest 2> log.txt

The output seems to be written instantly. It saves ALL stderr output, including placing blocks and mob spawns. Would this make the file to big?
If that causes too much output, lines about someone digging can be pulled out by launching like this:

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minetest 2>&1 | grep digs >> log.txt

The output seems to be only written completely when minetest is closed. Also, could this use up the computer's memory if used for too long?

Whichever way, the file can be searched like so:

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cat log.txt | grep 'digs (coords)'

where "coords" is the coordinates of a block that was removed from a griefed building.

Sorry if these commands sound stupid, I don't know much about bash and came up with this in 10 minutes. Would something like this work on a server without making an insanely huge log file?

[bwog]

I know that someone made block ownership for Minetest, so if that was added and changed so that when someone places a block, they 'own' it and anybody who removes it, besides the person who placed it, would create a log message, and maybe just that could be saved to a file.

[bcmpinc]

The output seems to be only written completely when minetest is closed. Also, could this use up the computer's memory if used for too long?

There usually is some kind of buffer between the processes (I believe they're about 4kb). So the output in the logfile can lack the latest 8kb (there are 2 buffers). However, it won't use up all your computers memory.

Using these logs is quite a good idea to catch griefers. If the logging is enhanced a bit, it can even be used to revert the grieving of a given player. You just revert the actions in reverse order.