Why do you need a log?

Whenever you run into an issue and try to report it you must have seen the request from the support or development teams to provide a log or a logcat.

A log helps the development team debug the issue and find out the resolution.

To generate a logcat you would need to enable adb on your phone as well as your PC.

What is adb?

adb stands for Android Debug Bridge. adb is a versatile command-line tool that lets you communicate with a device. The adb command facilitates a variety of device actions, such as installing and debugging of apps.

To enable adb

  1. On your phone

    • Enable developers options in settings (Settings > About phone > Tap Build number 7 times)
    • Enable Android debug (Settings > System > Developer options > Android debugging)
  2. On your computer,

    • install adb on your PC
    • There could be issues here with the device driver or the OS type. You can find details on how to install adb here

    • connect your device to your computer
    • Detect your device by typing the below command at the command prompt

      $ adb devices
      

      You would have to accept an authorization on your phone. A pop up like this will appear

      Allow_USB_Debugging

    • Check the option ‘Always allow from this computer’ and click Ok
    • Check that your device is being detected by adb
    • Once you accept the authorization shown above you will see the display on you screen like this.

      adb_Device_Detected

    • If you do not accept the message will say that the device is unauthorized

Generate the log

  • Try to reproduce the error. For e.g if Music app is crashing then run it again. The app you are
    facing an issue with will crash.

  • Now Run this command at the command prompt / console

      $ adb logcat -d > logcat.txt
    
  • This will create a file called logcat.txt in the current folder.

  • Check the file for any personal data. You can either scroll the log file or do a search. Remember the file can be quite large.

  • Once you have the logcat file please share it with the development team as an attachment to the Gitlab error .

Additionally, the radio buffer can be viewed or stored with logcat. If needed or requested, type the below command

adb logcat -db radio > radio.txt

Next save it as radio.txt and share with the development team or on Gitlab