messages log file corrupted

[Ray Parrish]

Hello,

I noticed that in the System Log viewer, my messages log only shows some 
of the messages for the 16th of this month, and then nothing after that 
date. I can cat the file, and see all of the entries.

File Manager [nautilus] claims that it is a plain text file, but gedit 
refuses to open it, stating that it might be a binary file. Kwrite opens 
it, but warns that it is a binary file, and that saving it could corrupt 
it. While in Kwrite I was able to see the following anomaly which occurs 
at the precise point the output in System Log viewer ends for the 
messages log.

Mar 16 19:19:56 ray-desktop -- MARK --
Mar 16 19:39:56 ray-desktop -- MARK --
                                                                                                                          
Mar 16 19:43:30 ray-desktop syslogd 1.5.0#1ubuntu1: restart.
Mar 16 19:43:30 ray-desktop kernel: Inspecting 
/boot/System.map-2.6.24-23-generic
Mar 16 19:43:30 ray-desktop kernel: Loaded 27905 symbols from 
/boot/System.map-2.6.24-23-generic.

Note the long white space in front of the entry for Mar 16 19:43:30. The 
entry right before it, is the last one which will show in my log viewer. 
It's not too big of a deal, as I know that a new log file will be 
started in a matter of days, when the scheduled rotation takes place, 
but I would like to know a couple of things.

Is this log file indeed binary in some way, even 'though it shows as 
plain text in nautilus, and displays as such in Kwrite in spite of it's 
warnings to the contrary?

What the heck happened that caused the white space, and subsequent lack 
of output in System Log viewer?

Later, Ray Parrish

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