Scratchy

Scratchy is a set of Python scripts designed to analyze Apache web server log files and generate HTML reports. It processes access data to help web administrators identify traffic trends and audience profiles.

★★★★★

5.0(1 ratings)

• Accessed page analysis. Extracts and classifies all URLs requested from the server, showing access frequency and the most popular paths.
• Host identification. Records and groups the IP addresses that access the site, making it possible to detect traffic patterns.
• Operating system detection. Analyzes User-Agent strings to determine which operating systems visitors use.
• Browser classification. Identifies web browsers and their versions from User-Agent data.
• Search engine recognition. Detects search engine crawlers such as Googlebot or Bingbot using specific signatures.
• Robot filtering. Separates traffic generated by bots and automated crawlers from human traffic.
• File type statistics. Classifies requests by extension (HTML, images, CSS, etc.) to analyze content distribution.
• Error reporting. Compiles and categorizes HTTP status codes (404, 500, etc.) to identify problems.
• Geolocation. Optionally performs reverse IP lookups to determine countries of origin (requires additional configuration).
• Chart generation. Creates visual representations of statistical data when the corresponding option is enabled.
• Per-IP tracking. Provides complete browsing traces for each IP address that accesses the site.
• Flexible configuration. Lets you customize the appearance of reports through editable configuration files.

The Scratchy project was started in the early 2000s as a personal tool for analyzing web traffic. Its development continued with gradual improvements until it was released as open-source software. The name is a reference to The Itchy & Scratchy Show from The Simpsons. Written entirely in Python, it stands out for its focus on extensibility and customization. Unlike other existing solutions written in Perl or C, Scratchy offers an alternative with accessible syntax and a modular architecture. The main author keeps development active and welcomes feedback on User-Agent detection and specific use cases.

Alternatives to Scratchy: