Hi All, I've just needed to make sense of a very long log file generated by strace. The log file is full of entries like: --- SIGALRM (Alarm clock) @ 0 (0) --- gettimeofday({1265744804, 491238}, NULL) = 0 sigreturn() = ? (mask now []) ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 and my workspace script reduces these to e.g. --- SIGALRM (Alarm clock) @ 0 (0) --- gettimeofday({1265744797, 316183}, NULL) = 0 sigreturn() = ? (mask now []) NEXT 2 LINES REPEAT 715 TIMES ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 --- SIGALRM (Alarm clock) @ 0 (0) --- gettimeofday({1265744797, 317189}, NULL) = 0 sigreturn() = ? (mask now []) My question is has anyone looked at this issue in any depth and perhaps come up with something not as crude as the below and possibly even recursive. i.e. the above would ideally be reduced to e.g. NEXT 7 LINES REPEAT 123456 TIMES --- SIGALRM (Alarm clock) @ 0 (0) --- gettimeofday({1265744797, 316183}, NULL) = 0 sigreturn() = ? (mask now []) NEXT 2 LINES REPEAT BETWEEN 500 AND 800 TIMES ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 ioctl(8, 0x80045530, 0xbfd4fe70) = 0 ioctl(8, 0xc1205531, 0xbfd4fb80) = 0 --- SIGALRM (Alarm clock) @ 0 (0) --- gettimeofday({1265744797, 317189}, NULL) = 0 sigreturn() = ? (mask now []) Here's my quick hack that I ran in vw7.7nc: | f o lines maxrun repeats range | f := '../Cog/squeak.strace.log' asFilename readStream. o := 'compressed.log' asFilename writeStream. lines := OrderedCollection new. maxrun := 50. repeats := 0. range := nil. [[f atEnd] whileFalse: [lines size > maxrun ifTrue: [repeats > 0 ifTrue: [1 to: range first - 1 do: [:i| o nextPutAll: (lines at: i); cr]. o nextPutAll: 'NEXT '; print: range size; nextPutAll: ' LINES REPEAT '; print: repeats + 1; nextPutAll: ' TIMES'; cr. range do: [:i| o nextPutAll: (lines at: i); cr]. lines removeFirst: range last. repeats := 0] ifFalse: [o nextPutAll: lines removeFirst; cr; flush]. range := nil]. lines addLast: (f upTo: Character cr). [:exit| 1 to: lines size do: [:i| | line repeat | line := lines at: i. repeat := lines nextIndexOf: line from: i + 1 to: lines size. (repeat ~~ nil and: [lines size >= (repeat - i * 2 + i) and: [(i to: repeat - 1) allSatisfy: [:j| (lines at: j) = (lines at: j - i + repeat)]]]) ifTrue: [repeats := repeats + 1. range isNil ifTrue: [range := i to: repeat - 1] ifFalse: [range = (i to: repeat - 1) ifTrue: [range do: [:ignore| lines removeAtIndex: repeat]. exit value]]]]] valueWithExit]] ensure: [f close. o close]. repeats Forgive the cross post. I expect deep expertise in each newsgroup posted to. best Eliot