NAME

Net::Daemon::Log - Utility functions for logging

SYNOPSIS

            

              
              
# Choose logging method: syslog or Win32::EventLog
$self->{'facility'} = 'mail'; # Default: Daemon
$self->{'logfile'} = undef;   # Default
# Choose logging method: stderr
$self->{'logfile'} = 1;
# Choose logging method: IO handle
my $file = IO::File->new("my.log", "a");
$self->{'logfile'} = $file;
# Debugging messages (equivalent):
$self->Log('debug', "This is a debugging message");
$self->Debug("This is a debugging message");
# Error messages (equivalent):
$self->Log('err', "This is an error message");
$self->Error("This is an error message");
# Fatal error messages (implies 'die')
$self->Fatal("This is a fatal error message");
            
          

WARNING

THIS IS ALPHA SOFTWARE. It is *only* 'Alpha' because the interface (API) is not finalised. The Alpha status does not reflect code quality or stability.

DESCRIPTION

Net::Daemon::Log is a utility class for portable logging messages. By default it uses syslog (Unix) or Win32::EventLog (Windows), but logging messages can also be redirected to stderr or a log file.

Generic Logging

            

              
              
$self->Log($level, $msg, @args);
            
          

This is the generic interface. The logging level is in syslog style, thus one of the words 'debug', 'info', 'notice', 'err' or 'crit'. You'll rarely need info and notice and I can hardly imagine a reason for crit (critical). In 95% of all cases debug and err will be sufficient.

The logging string $msg is a format string similar to printf.

Utility methods

            

              
              
$self->Debug($msg, @args);
$self->Error($msg, @args);
$self->Fatal($msg, @args);
            
          

These are replacements for logging with levels debug and err. The difference between the latter two is that Fatal includes throwing a Perl exception.

Chossing a logging target

By default logging will happen to syslog (Unix) or EventLog (Windows). However you may choose logging to stderr by setting

            

              
              
$self->{'logfile'} = 1;
            
          

This is required if neither of syslog and EventLog is available. An alternative option is setting

            

              
              
$self->{'logfile'} = $handle;
            
          

where $handle is any object supporting a print method, for example an IO::Handle object. Usually the logging target is choosen as soon as you call $self->Log() the first time. However, you may force choosing the target by doing a

            

              
              
$self->OpenLog();
            
          

before calling Log the first time.

MULTITHREADING

The Multithreading capabitities of this class are depending heavily on the underlying classes Sys::Syslog, Win32::EventLog or IO::Handle. If they are thread safe, you can well assume that this package is too. (The exception being that you should better call $self->OpenLog() before threading.)

AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT

            

              
              
Net::Daemon is Copyright (C) 1998, Jochen Wiedmann
                                   Am Eisteich 9
                                   72555 Metzingen
                                   Germany
                                   Phone: +49 7123 14887
                                   Email: joe@ispsoft.de
All rights reserved.
You may distribute this package under the terms of either the GNU
General Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the
Perl README file.
            
          

SEE ALSO

Net::Daemon(3), Sys::Syslog(3), Win32::EventLog(3), IO::Handle(3)