Bash scripting: log commands that produced errors?

Question

I'm working on best practice for my bash scripts. At the top of each file, I put the following so it exits if any command produces an error:

set -o errexit

The problem is it doesn't help with debugging. I'm looking for a way of logging what command failed (i.e. the command and arguments that were run), and what line the error occurred on, and in which file.

What's a good way of doing this? E.g by a small set of commands at the top of each bash script? Perhaps having a central file that is used for all scripts to log such errors? What might those commands be?

Also, is it a good idea putting that in every script that needs it? Or should a single file with it be source'd into every script that needs it? Or perhaps there's a different way?

Put set -x at the top. This will display all the lines as they execute. — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 12:52
There's at least some question about whether set -e is really a best practice, because it might make you sloppy about handing error conditions yourself and it doesn't always work as expected. see here for example — Eric Renouf
– Eric Renouf, Commented Oct 9, 2016 at 12:58

Jaur · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-09 13:04:18Z

1

You have few options:

Use at the top of your script.sh file: #!/bin/bash -x
Use set -x option in script.sh
Use -x from command line: bash -x script.sh

answered Oct 9, 2016 at 13:04

Jaur

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