Give unprivileged users a way to access the module events logged for them #718

The logger and logged_events configuration options, and the related "Log module command" cookbook recipe, let a site record module commands and modulefile evaluations. The recipe relies on the system logger command, so events end up in the system log (syslog, journald). This destination is well suited for administrators wanting usage statistics across the whole system, but it is readable by privileged users only.

Feedback gathered at the HPSF Conference 2026 raised the need for the person who generated the events to access them too. Several situations were described:

• A user wants to recall which modules they loaded during a past session, for instance to reproduce an environment that produced a result, or to understand what changed between a run that worked and a run that failed. Collections only cover what was explicitly saved, and shell history does not capture automatically loaded dependencies or the exact modulefiles that were evaluated.
• A support team member, without root access, helps a user and wants to see the sequence of module commands that led to the reported problem.
• A user runs software on behalf of a project and must report which modules were used, for provenance or publication purposes.

In all these cases the information is recorded, but it reaches a store the user cannot query. The current recipe does not describe any alternative and the built-in logging feature only offers one log channel, which is global to the system.

The need is for a documented way, and if required a feature, to make logged events available to the unprivileged user they belong to. This could cover a per-user log destination in addition to the system one, guidance on configuring the logger command so events are written somewhere the user can read, and a way for the user to consult these events from the module command itself or with standard tools. The system-wide log destination used by administrators should remain available as is. Privacy and permission aspects should be addressed so a user can only read their own events.

This would turn the logging feature into something useful for end users and support staff, not only for administrators collecting usage statistics.