It is important to realize that, just as it is on the command-line directly, only output (stdout/stderr) is logged. By default, most commands that run successfully do not have any output; examples of these are cp, rm, touch, and so on. If you want informative logging in your scripts, it is your responsibility to add output where you see fit. The easiest way to accomplish this is by simply using an echo here and there. The easiest way to make a log file give confidence to the user is by having the final command in your scripts be echo "Everything went well, exiting script.". As long as you handle all potential errors properly during your script, you can safely say that once it reaches the final command the execution has succeeded, and you can notify the user of this. If you do not do this, the log file might stay empty, which can be kind of scary; is it empty because everything succeeded or because the script did not even run? This is not something you want to take a chance on, especially not when a simple echo can save you all that trouble.