The console log is a file called SYSLOG.PRN which records the usage of DP4 programs. As a minimum, the console log will provide a history of any System or Fail errors that occur whilst you are using DP4, so it may be useful to refer to this file if you need to find the details of an error that occurred earlier but has now been cleared from the screen. (On Windows NT you can also look in the Application Event log). The number and full error text is written to the file whether you are running DP4 from the menu or the command line. All occurrences of database recovery by DBRECOV are also recorded.
If you select the Record programs run in console log option in the Console/Transaction Logging Option of DFSETUP, the log will also record the user name, date, time and name of all DP4 programs run, and any program run via the DP4 menu.
If you keep the Console Log in a directory specified with a relative path name, and arrange for each user to run programs from a separate directory (for example their own home directory) you can keep a separate console log for each user. If you use an absolute path name then you will have one combined console log for all users.
The Console Log is normally limited in size. When the size limit is reached the current log is renamed SYSLOG.BAK (removing any previous SYSLOG.BAK at the same time) and a new console log is started.