Enlightened Monks!

I'm trying to log user sessions with a program that does not support activity logging. I've decided to write a wrapper - some simple shell, that would pass a given line of input to this program, and at the same time log this line to a file. My initial code looks like this: 

 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Term::ReadLine;
use POSIX qw(strftime);

my $username = getlogin();
my %cfg = (
    shell       => '/bin/bash',
    dateformat  => '[%Y%m%d-%H%M%S] ',
    logpath     => '/tmp/sessionlogs/',
    logname     => "$username.session.log",
);

my @prohibited_cmds = (
    'mc',
    '/usr/bin/mc',
);

open LOGFILE, ">>$cfg{logpath}$cfg{logname}" or die "Cannot open log f
+ile!";

print LOGFILE "-----------------------------------\n";
print LOGFILE strftime $cfg{dateformat}, localtime;
print LOGFILE "Session started for $username.\n";

my $term = new Term::ReadLine 'Shellwrapper';
$SIG{'INT'} = 'IGNORE';

while (defined ($_ = $term->readline('SH+log> '))) {
    if ((/^\s*quit\s*$/) or (/^\s*exit\s*$/)) {
        print LOGFILE strftime $cfg{dateformat}, localtime;
        print LOGFILE "$_\n";
        last;
    }
   
    # first log timestamp and commandline
    print LOGFILE strftime $cfg{dateformat}, localtime;
    print LOGFILE "$_\n";

    # then execute
    system "$cfg{shell} -c '$_'";
    print "\n";
}

print LOGFILE strftime $cfg{dateformat}, localtime;
print LOGFILE "Session terminated for $username.\n";

close LOGFILE;

[download]

I've substituted the program with bash, and simplified the code a bit, but this is roughly it. And it seems to work, too. The logfile looks like this: 

-----------------------------------
[20120516-222413] Session started for testuser17.
[20120516-222419] test shellexample
[20120516-222420] exit
[20120516-222420] Session terminated for testuser17.

[download]

The problem is, that this works only a line at a time. And all tasks that require a few related lines of input - like set a variable, set another variable, and then run a command - well, they won't work.

So, I'm starting to think: maybe I should run the wrapper shell, run the program, and then establish some communication between the two. Now, I'm looking at IPC::Run3, but all the examples that I have found are using run3 once, with a fixed STDIN, and I'm looking for a scenario, when I'm gathering input, and passing it to the program continuously.

So, here are my questions (thanks for the patience): am I looking at the right tool for the job, and can it be done with IPC::Run3? If yes, could you provide some example? If not, what should I use? What problems should I be aware of?

Regards,
Luke Jefferson

In reply to Logging user input to a file, and passing it to an external program, at the same time by blindluke

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