Shell_Analytics

Lab session summarizer for Raspberry pi, running on Debian shell

Overview

shell_analytics is a shell script designed to help electronics engineers and Linux users to analyze usage logs from Raspberry Pi associated with labs that are under development & not released. This script works with both Buster and Bullseye pi devices. It parses /var/log/analytics.log to identify user sessions, calculate durations, and flag overuse patterns.

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What It Does

• This script runs inside the Raspberry Pi associated with Lab Hardware
• Parses logs for SessionStart, SessionEnd, and active_time from /var/log/analytics.log file.
• Handles missing SessionEnd by using SessionStart + active_time.
• Flags sessions over 45 minutes.
• Sorts session reports by Start Time.
• Filters out device_idle, internal domains, and null users.
• Shows the result in a table in shell.
• Works on Raspberry Pi with both Buster and Bullseye.

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Files & Versions

Version	Description
buster_analytics_v1.sh.bak	Initial parsing with basic fields, added active_time
buster_analytics_v2.sh.bak	Added time range filtering, redundant entries
buster_analytics_v3.sh.bak	Sorted by Start Time, deduplicated sessions
buster_analytics_v4.sh.bak	Added Progress bar for easy visualization, fully cron-ready
buster_analytics_v5.sh	Latest version, handled SessionEnd missing
bullseye_analytics_v1.sh	Latest version, ported from buster_analytics_v5.sh

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Usage Instructions

Manual Run

bash buster_analytics_v5.sh

Optional Flags

Flag	Description	Example
-t	Time range in days (default: 10)	-t 30
-f	Custom log file path (default: /var/log/analytics.log)	-f /home/pi/test.log

Example:

bash buster_analytics_v5.sh -t 14 -f /home/pi/mylog.log

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Output Format

Email	Start Time	End Time	Duration	Notes
user1@example1.com	2025-07-07 12:00:00	2025-07-07 12:45:10	49m	Over 45 min
user2@example2.com	2025-07-11 11:06:52	2025-07-11 11:27:52	21m

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Important Notes

• Make sure analytics.log is accessible.
• The script skips:
  • users like device_idle
  • emails ending in @tenxerlabs.com or @kimshuka.com
  • null or empty user names

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How Session Duration is Calculated

Condition	Calculation
Has SessionStart + SessionEnd	Use difference of timestamps
Has SessionStart but missing SessionEnd	Add active_time to SessionStart
Only active_time present	Ignored (cannot infer session window)

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Dependencies

Pure Shell: Works out of the box with bash, awk, and date. No need for jq, Python, or any external library. If get error at line 4, install gawk by running sudo apt-get install -y gawk

Notes

If you're an electronics engineer who’s new to Linux:

• These scripts are plug-and-play.
• You can customize time ranges, change log paths, or auto-save reports with cron.
• Safe to run on Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, or any ARM/Debian device running on Debian Buster or Bullseye.

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Future Ideas

• Add HTML or CSV export
• Include user activity heatmaps
• Integrate with Grafana dashboards or email alerts

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Cron Automation (Optional)

• Create a folder first as /home/pi/saved_analytics/ to save the results
• To schedule it every day at 6 AM and save reports with date:

crontab -e

Add this line:

0 6 * * * bash /home/pi/buster_analytics_v5.sh > /home/pi/saved_analytics/analytics_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).txt 2>/dev/null

This will save a new .txt file daily in /home/pi/saved_analytics/.

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Testing Cron Setup

To test it every minute:

* * * * * bash /home/pi/buster_analytics_v5.sh > /home/pi/saved_analytics/test_run_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d_%H%M).txt 2>/dev/null