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xlog

Small GTK station log that opens instantly and does the basics well

What it does

Logs contacts to a plain file, looks up DXCC from cty.dat, tracks worked and confirmed status per band, prints and exports QSL labels, and reads the rig through hamlib. It has one window and no modes.

Why you would want it

It is the log for an operator who wants a log rather than a station management system. It starts in under a second, the file it writes can be read with an editor, and nothing about it needs setting up before the first contact. For casual operating and for portable work that is exactly right.

Before it will work

Nothing to start. DXCC lookup uses cty.dat, which the package ships; keeping it current is a manual step and one AHRL automated by copying a fresh file into six directories.

How it installs

  • apt: xlog
  • AHRL builds 2.0.25 from source because the repository had 2.0.24, and needs six -Wno-* flags to make that build compile. Debian 13 and Parrot still carry 2.0.24; Ubuntu 26.04 and Kali carry 2.0.25 (measured 2026-08-28). A point release is not worth owning a build that a stricter future compiler will break, so this is apt on every target and the difference is recorded rather than engineered around -- docs/contributing/manifests.md states the rule.

Known problems

GTK 2, like CQRLOG -- functional, unthemed on a modern desktop, small on HiDPI. Development upstream is quiet: the last release is some years old, which for a program of this scope is closer to finished than to abandoned, but it does mean no new online-service integrations are coming.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

Savannah project page and mailing list at the URL above.

Source: catalog/packages/xlog.yaml