plogr

plogr is a cross-distro/platform package-activity logger that records every install and removal event on your system, then writes an append-only history in both JSON and TOML. It can also monitor your downloads(configurable) folder for new files.

Features

Zero-maintenance Hooks - hooks directly into DNF4 and DNF5; no polling required.
Native DNF5 Plugin - C++ plugin for DNF5 with automatic transaction logging.
Dual Log Formats - automatically mirrors entries to packages.json and packages.toml files.
Modular Backends - easily extendable with backends for APT, Pacman, Homebrew, etc.
Append-Only History - entries are never deleted; removals are flagged as removed.
Scope-Aware Logging - choose between user-only (--scope user) or system-wide (--scope system) package tracking.
Download Monitoring - automatically log files downloaded to your Downloads folder.
Log Querying - search and filter your package history directly from the CLI.

Installation

Package builds will soon be available from my Copr repository. Until then:

Fedora / RHEL – build & install the RPM as shown below (automatic DNF integration).
All other platforms – install the pure-Python package with pipx (or pip) and, if you like, add a small hook so your package manager calls the CLI automatically.

Quick install via pipx (works everywhere)

# system Python → isolated environment in ~/.local/pipx:
pipx install plogr==0.7.0

# verify
plogr --help

Supported Python versions: 3.12–3.13 (3.14 is blocked until upstream PyO3/pydantic-core add support). If your system default is newer, set UV_PYTHON=python3.13 when building or installing with uv/pipx.

You can now enable the download-monitoring service:

systemctl --user daemon-reload   # first time only
systemctl --user enable --now plogr.service

DNF5 Plugin Installation

The RPM package includes a native C++ plugin for DNF5 that provides automatic package logging via the DNF5 Actions Plugin system.

Automatic Installation (RPM)

When you install the RPM package, the DNF5 plugin is automatically:

Built using CMake with libdnf5 dependencies
Installed to /usr/lib64/dnf5/plugins/plogr.so
Configured with Actions Plugin hooks at /usr/share/libdnf5/plugins/actions.d/plogr.actions
Enabled by default for automatic transaction logging

Manual Installation

If you're building from source or need to install manually:

# Install build dependencies
sudo dnf install cmake gcc-c++ libdnf5-devel pkgconfig

# Build and install the plugin
cd libdnf5-plugin/dnf5-plugin
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

Plugin Verification

Verify the plugin is working:

# Check DNF5 version
dnf5 --version

# Test plugin loading (should show no errors)
dnf5 list installed | head -5

# Check if transactions are being logged
plogr status

(Optional) DIY hooks for other package managers

APT / Debian & Ubuntu

Create /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99plogr (system-wide) or ~/.config/apt/apt.conf.d/99plogr (user):

DPkg::Post-Invoke { "plogr install-apt-hook || true"; };

Put a tiny helper on your PATH, e.g. /usr/local/bin/plogr-install-apt-hook:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Log every package touched in the most recent dpkg transaction
awk '{print $4}' /var/log/dpkg.log | tail -n +2 | while read -r pkg; do
  plogr install "$pkg" apt
done

Make it executable (chmod +x …).

Pacman / Arch

Create /etc/pacman.d/hooks/plogr.hook:

[Trigger]
Operation = Install
Operation = Upgrade
Operation = Remove
Type      = Package
Target    = *

[Action]
Description = Log package transaction with plogr
When        = PostTransaction
Exec        = /usr/bin/plogr pacman-hook %t

%t is the transaction database path; you can parse it inside pacman-hook to emit individual plogr install/remove calls.

Other managers

For Homebrew, Chocolatey and Winget, use manual logging or adapt the examples above. Read Package-manager integration and CONTRIBUTING for what’s still needed.

Package-manager integration

Linux

Package manager	Status	Setup
DNF4 (Fedora/RHEL)	Automatic logging via Python plugin	See DNF Plugin Configuration. The RPM installs `/usr/lib/python3.*/site-packages/dnf-plugins/plogr.py` and a sample config; enable it with `enabled=1`.
DNF5 (Fedora/RHEL)	Automatic logging via native C++ plugin	See DNF Plugin Configuration. The RPM installs `/usr/lib64/dnf5/plugins/plogr.so` and is enabled by default.
APT (Debian/Ubuntu)	Planned	Parser exists (`apt.py`), but no hook yet. A `DPkg::Post-Invoke` script is needed. Help welcome → Contributing
Pacman (Arch)	Planned	Parser exists (`pacman.py`). Needs an `alpm` hook (`/etc/pacman.d/hooks/plogr.hook`). See Contributing

macOS

Package manager	Status	Notes
Homebrew	Planned	Parsing implemented (`brew.py`). Requires a post-install wrapper or Homebrew tap to invoke the CLI automatically. See Contributing.

Windows

Package manager	Status	Notes
Chocolatey	Planned	Parser implemented (`chocolatey.py`). Needs a PowerShell extension/post-install script.
Winget	Planned	Parser implemented (`winget.py`). Requires a `winget` source extension or scheduled task to call the CLI.

See the Contributing guide if you’d like to help wire up these back-ends.

Configuration

User Scope (Default)

User scope logs packages for the current user only. Files are stored in ~/.local/share/plogr/.

Configuration file: ~/.config/plogr/plogr.conf

{
  "scope": "user",
  "enable_dnf_hooks": true,
  "enable_download_monitoring": true,
  "downloads_dir": "~/Downloads",
  "monitored_extensions": ".rpm, .deb, .pkg, .exe, .msi, .dmg",
  "log_format": "both"
}

System Scope (Requires Administrator)

System scope logs packages system-wide. Files are stored in /var/log/plogr/.

Configuration file: /etc/plogr/plogr.conf

{
  "scope": "system",
  "enable_dnf_hooks": true,
  "enable_download_monitoring": false,
  "log_format": "both"
}

DNF Plugin Configuration

plogr includes both a Python plugin for DNF4 and a native C++ plugin for DNF5.

DNF4 (Python Plugin)

User scope: ~/.config/dnf/plugins/plogr.conf

[main]
enabled = 1
scope = user

System scope: /etc/dnf/plugins/plogr.conf

[main]
enabled = 1
scope = system

DNF5 (Native C++ Plugin)

The DNF5 plugin is automatically installed to /usr/lib64/dnf5/plugins/plogr.so and is enabled by default.

User scope: ~/.config/dnf5/plugins/plogr.conf

[main]
enabled = 1
scope = user

System scope: /etc/dnf5/plugins/plogr.conf

[main]
enabled = 1
scope = system

Troubleshooting DNF5 vs DNF4

DNF5 plugin not loading: Ensure you're using DNF5 (dnf5 --version) and the plugin is installed to /usr/lib64/dnf5/plugins/
DNF4 plugin not loading: Ensure you're using DNF4 (dnf --version) and the plugin is installed to /usr/lib/python3.*/site-packages/dnf-plugins/
Both plugins installed: The system will use the appropriate plugin based on which DNF version you're running
Plugin conflicts: Only one plugin should be active at a time; the Python plugin is for DNF4, the C++ plugin is for DNF5
DNF5 transactions not logged: Check that the Actions Plugin file at /usr/share/libdnf5/plugins/actions.d/plogr.actions exists and has no trailing characters
Scope detection issues: Run sudo plogr setup to properly configure system scope, or use plogr setup for user scope
Configuration conflicts: Ensure only one config file exists - either system (/etc/plogr/) or user (~/.config/plogr/)

Usage

All commands can be run with --scope user (default) or --scope system (requires sudo).

Setup

Initializes configuration and directories.

plogr setup

Check Status

Show current status and statistics.

plogr status

Start Monitoring

Starts the monitoring daemon. For users, this monitors the downloads directory.

# Start download monitoring (user scope only, foreground)
plogr daemon

# Run in background (non-systemd, POSIX only)
plogr daemon --background

# Run continuously via systemd-user service
# (the unit file is shipped in /usr/lib/systemd/user by the RPM)
#
# 1. Reload user units to ensure systemd sees the new file
systemctl --user daemon-reload
# 2. Enable + start the logger – this will automatically create
#    ~/.config/systemd/user/ if it does not already exist.
systemctl --user enable --now plogr.service

# Note: The systemd service includes security hardening that restricts
# access to only the log directory and Downloads folder. If you use a
# custom downloads directory, you may need to modify the service file.

# Optional: keep the service running even after logging out
sudo loginctl enable-linger "$USER"

System scope requires sudo. Without it, commands fall back to user scope and emit a warning.

Query Logs

Search the package logs.

# Find all packages with 'nginx' in the name
plogr query --name nginx

# Find packages installed with dnf in the last 30 days
plogr query --manager dnf --days 30

Export Logs

Export the full log to stdout.

# Export user logs as JSON
plogr export --format json

Manual Logging

Manually log a package installation or removal.

# Log a package installation
plogr install package-name dnf

# Log a package removal
plogr remove package-name dnf

# Log a downloaded file
plogr install downloaded-file.zip download

Shell Integration

Shell wrapper to log every git clone

.zshrc

function pkglog_preexec() {
    [[ $1 == git\ clone* ]] || return
    local repo=${${1#git clone }##*/}
    repo=${repo%.git}
    plogr install $repo git
}
autoload -Uz add-zsh-hook
add-zsh-hook preexec pkglog_preexec

.bashrc

function _pkglog_bash_preexec() {
   [[ $BASH_COMMAND == git\ clone* ]]  || return
   local repo=${BASH_COMMAND#git clone}
   repo=${repo##*/}
   repo=${repo%.git}
   plogr install "$repo" git
}

config.fish

function fish_preexec --on-event fish_preexec
  if string match -rq '^git clone ' -- $argv[1]
    set repo (basename (string replace -r '^git clone +' '' $argv[1]) .git)
    plogr install $repo git
  end
end

Log File Examples

JSON Format

[
  {
    "name": "neovim",
    "manager": "dnf",
    "action": "install",
    "date": "2025-06-21T17:02:41-05:00",
    "removed": false,
    "scope": "user",
    "version": "0.9.5-1.fc42",
    "metadata": {
      "arch": "x86_64",
      "repo": "fedora"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "firefox-120.0.tar.bz2",
    "manager": "download",
    "action": "install",
    "date": "2025-06-21T18:30:15-05:00",
    "removed": false,
    "scope": "user",
    "metadata": {
      "file_path": "/home/user/Downloads/firefox-120.0.tar.bz2",
      "file_size": 52428800,
      "file_type": ".tar.bz2"
    }
  }
]

TOML Format

[[package]]
name = "neovim"
manager = "dnf"
action = "install"
date = "2025-06-21T17:02:41-05:00"
removed = false
scope = "user"
version = "0.9.5-1.fc42"

[package.metadata]
arch = "x86_64"
repo = "fedora"

[[package]]
name = "firefox-120.0.tar.bz2"
manager = "download"
action = "install"
date = "2025-06-21T18:30:15-05:00"
removed = false
scope = "user"

[package.metadata]
file_path = "/home/user/Downloads/firefox-120.0.tar.bz2"
file_size = 52428800
file_type = ".tar.bz2"

File Locations

User Scope

Log files: ~/.local/share/plogr/
- packages.json
- packages.toml
Configuration: ~/.config/plogr/plogr.conf
DNF plugin config: ~/.config/dnf/plugins/plogr.conf

System Scope

Log files: /var/log/plogr/
- packages.json
- packages.toml
Configuration: /etc/plogr/plogr.conf
DNF plugin config: /etc/dnf/plugins/plogr.conf

Building the RPM yourself

With the provided Makefile, building and installing a local version of the RPM is simple.

# Create the SRPM and RPM packages
make rpm

# Install the newly built package
make install

# Supported Python: 3.12–3.13. Python 3.14 is currently blocked because PyO3/pydantic-core
# do not yet support it. If your system Python is newer, set build envs to 3.13:
# UV_PYTHON=python3.13 PYO3_PYTHON=python3.13 make rpm
# UV_PYTHON=python3.13 PYO3_PYTHON=python3.13 make install

The Makefile handles placing the source tarball in the correct rpmbuild directory for you.

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on how to contribute to this project.

License

MIT License (see LICENSE)

Use of AI on this project

I currently use AI to help me with scaffolding, research, debugging, and documentation. All other aspects of the code is done by me, keep in mind I do this for fun so keep your expectations low... lol.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 64 Commits
.github		.github
config		config
docs/man		docs/man
libdnf5-plugin/dnf5-plugin		libdnf5-plugin/dnf5-plugin
packaging		packaging
src		src
systemd-user		systemd-user
tests		tests
.bumpversion.cfg		.bumpversion.cfg
.clang-format		.clang-format
.coverage		.coverage
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
.pre-commit-config.yaml		.pre-commit-config.yaml
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
MANIFEST.in		MANIFEST.in
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
TODO.md		TODO.md
plogr.spec		plogr.spec
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
uv.lock		uv.lock

License

P-R-E-Z/plogr

Folders and files

Latest commit

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plogr

Table of Contents

Features

Installation

Quick install via pipx (works everywhere)

DNF5 Plugin Installation

Automatic Installation (RPM)

Manual Installation

Plugin Verification

(Optional) DIY hooks for other package managers

Package-manager integration

Configuration

User Scope (Default)

System Scope (Requires Administrator)

DNF Plugin Configuration

DNF4 (Python Plugin)

DNF5 (Native C++ Plugin)

Troubleshooting DNF5 vs DNF4

Usage

Setup

Check Status

Start Monitoring

Query Logs

Export Logs

Manual Logging

Shell Integration

Shell wrapper to log every git clone

.zshrc

.bashrc

config.fish

Log File Examples

JSON Format

TOML Format

File Locations

User Scope

System Scope

Building the RPM yourself

Contributing

License

Use of AI on this project

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