willnsandiego wrote:
I am attempting to continue(from attached link) my questioning of the purpose and value of the console app that appears to show me everything that is happening and has happened in my MacBook Pro system
The purpose of Console is to be a tool for developers to use. It isn't intended for end users at all. As of High Sierra, Apple made significant changes to it so that it is practically useless for end users.
The value of Console is a different story. As a developer, I think it has virtually no value whatsoever. It is much more difficult to use than the old system, it requires that I adopt newer SDKs (which is the primary point, I believe), and just having it open causes a very significant performance hit on the machine that can often invalidate any testing that I might have been trying to accomplish with it. I never use it.
(without getting lectured because im not an apple purist who believes nothing can go wrong with my system)
I think that breed of Apple users has officially gone extinct. They were, after all, dependent on their environment. Now that the old Apple environment is gone, we are locked into the platform. The grass was greener for a while, but then they put up the fence. Now we're stuck.
how a lay person can use this app to prevent big problems like disk failure.
That is impossible. This person (https://eclecticlight.co/2018/11/10/updates-to-log-access-apps-consolation-3-and -routemap/) has done more research and work with the internals of Apple's logging system than just about anyone else. In theory, it should be possible for you to use the internal, command-line system to extract log messages relating to disk failure. But you must use the command-line. The Console.app is completely unsuitable for this, or practically any, purpose other that burning CPU cycles and spinning up your fans.
no one at apple appears to even look at this information because they are usually surprised or at best unimpressed when they see it.
Apple is a big company. You are lucky to have found Apple people who would even comment on it truthfully.
well then why do we have it.
Basically, different groups are given assignments and/or blame for various issues. It is more important that they please the big (and little) bosses than provide value to users and developers. I'm sure the lower level Apple employees recognize the deficiencies that you describe. It sounds like they have. But they are powerless to effect any change. They just have to please their bosses to keep their jobs. That's why all the big tech companies like to be based in cities like SF, Seattle, NYC, DC, etc. If you are paying $3-4K a month in rent, it helps to keep your focus on keeping your job and doing what you're told.
does anyone use this info generated in my case by hundreds of thousands of internal messages.
If you are reporting a bug in the operating system to Apple, then Apple will require that you send this log information (as part of a larger sysdiagnose report) before they will look at your bug report. I have seen Apple engineers look at at some of the information submitted. I guess if you run the numbers, it does have some value. About once or twice a year I get feedback from one of my bug reports that indicates someone at Apple did look at my sysdiagnose report. If you multiple that number by all the other developers, then it could be that Apple finds log information useful multiple times every day. But ultimately, it is for Apple's own use, not third party developers and definitely not end users.
