Exercise 3: A "Missing" Log at Its Default Path — Possible Solution ==================================================================== REASON ONE: THE APPLICATION IS CONFIGURED TO LOG SOMEWHERE ELSE ------------------------------ Per this chapter, "most services let you set a custom log path - the config file is the actual source of truth, not the convention." The default path is only where the log lives if nobody has changed the configuration; if a custom path was set, the log is being written there instead, not at the default location at all. REASON TWO: THE FILE WAS ALREADY ROTATED ------------------------------ Per this chapter, "the file you're looking for might have already been rotated - renamed to access.log.1, or compressed to access.log.2.gz." The log still exists and still contains real data, just under a different filename than the one being searched for, as a normal consequence of log rotation (covered in full in Chapter 9). (A third valid reason from this chapter: a systemd unit file's StandardOutput/StandardError directives can redirect a service's output somewhere other than the journal or the expected default path entirely.) WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ------------------------------ It correctly names two genuinely different reasons a log might not be at its default path - a custom configured path, and rotation to a renamed/compressed file - both directly drawn from this chapter's own "When the Log Isn't Where You Expect" section, rather than assuming the log simply doesn't exist.