Common Errors

Learn how to access and use error logs effectively to diagnose and resolve issues in PteroCA.

Accessing Error Logs

PteroCA (being a Symfony application) logs errors and important events to log files located in the var/log/ directory. These logs are extremely useful for debugging because they often contain detailed error messages and stack traces that are not visible in the browser.

Here are some tips for working with log files:

Viewing Recent Logs

To see the latest errors or messages, you can view the end of the log file. Using a terminal on the server, run a command like the following to show the last 100 lines of the production log:

tail -n 100 var/log/prod.log

If your application is in development mode or you want to check development logs, use the dev.log file instead:

tail -n 100 var/log/dev.log

This will output the most recent entries in the log, which may include error stack traces, warnings, or other relevant information. Scanning this output can give you immediate clues about what is going wrong.

Monitoring Logs in Real Time

If you are actively troubleshooting an issue, it can be useful to watch the logs as the application runs. You can "follow" the log file so that new entries are displayed live. For example:

tail -f var/log/prod.log

This will continuously print new log lines to your terminal as they are written. If you trigger an action in the app (like loading a page or performing an operation) that causes an error, you will see the corresponding log entry appear in real time. For development mode logs, do the same with dev.log:

tail -f var/log/dev.log

Press Ctrl+C to stop the live log monitoring. Real-time log monitoring is very helpful when you need to reproduce an issue and see the error immediately as it happens.

Resetting Logs

Sometimes, especially during debugging, the log files can become long and cluttered with previous errors, which makes it hard to find new entries. You might want to clear the log file before reproducing an issue, so you can focus only on the fresh log output.

To empty (truncate) the production log, you can use:

> var/log/prod.log

This will wipe the contents of prod.log (note the single > which redirects nothing into the file, effectively clearing it). Do the same for dev.log if needed. After clearing the log, perform the steps to reproduce your issue and then check the logs again (via tail or by opening the file) – you will now see only the new log entries, which makes it easier to pinpoint the problem.

Debugging Tips

Enable Debug Mode

For detailed error information during development:

Open .env file in your PteroCA root directory
Change APP_ENV=prod to APP_ENV=dev
Refresh the page causing the error

Important: Always switch back to APP_ENV=prod after debugging in production environments.

Clear Cache

Many issues can be resolved by clearing the application cache:

php bin/console cache:clear

For development environment:

php bin/console cache:clear --env=dev

Check PHP Error Logs

In addition to Symfony logs, check your PHP error logs:

# Common PHP error log locations
tail -f /var/log/php8.2-fpm.log
tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log
tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Verify File Permissions

Ensure the web server can write to necessary directories:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data var/
sudo chmod -R 775 var/log var/cache

Common Error Patterns

"Class not found" Errors

Cause: Missing or outdated Composer dependencies

Solution:

composer install
# or
composer update

"Access denied" Database Errors

Cause: Incorrect database credentials in .env

Solution: Verify DATABASE_URL in .env file matches your database configuration

"Undefined variable" in Twig Templates

Cause: Template expects a variable that wasn't passed from the controller

Solution: Check the controller action and ensure all required variables are passed to the template

"File not found" Errors

Cause: Missing asset files or incorrect file paths