Guides
The catalogue answers “where does this application log?”. These answer the question underneath it: where any application logs on a given platform, and why the same one moves when you install it differently.
- How to find application log files on Windows
Roaming and Local AppData, ProgramData, the install directory and Event Viewer: which one an application writes to, and how to tell which without guessing. - How to find application log files on macOS
~/Library/Logs, /Library/Logs, sandbox containers and the unified log: the four places a Mac application can be writing, and how sandboxing moves the path. - Where installed apps store logs on Linux
/var/log, the journal, and the XDG directories a desktop application writes under, including where Snap and Flatpak put the same file instead. - Why log paths differ between installer types
The same version of the same application logs somewhere else depending on how it was installed. What MSI, MSIX, Store, pkg, Mac App Store, deb, Snap, Flatpak and AppImage each do to the path.