/ 
Fugu-0.1.0
/ Fugu::Log

NAME

Fugu::Log - logging to syslog, standard error, or nowhere

SYNOPSIS

use Fugu::Log;

my $log = Fugu::Log->new(
    mode     => 'syslog',
    ident    => 'mydaemon',
    level    => 'info',
    facility => 'daemon',
);

$log->info('listening on port %d', $port);
$log->error('cannot open %s: %s', $path, $!);

Fugu::Log->set_default($log);

DESCRIPTION

Fugu::Log gives a program one logging interface. The interface is the same when the program runs as a daemon and when it runs in the foreground. The caller selects the destination one time, when it creates the logger. Every call site then has the same form for all destinations.

The logger discards messages below the configured level. The levels, from lowest to highest, are debug, info, notice, warning and error. Each level is a method of the same name, and there is one spelling for each level.

The module also holds one process default logger. Library code that gets no logger asks for it with default, so no library has to die for the lack of one.

new

new(%args) creates a logger. These are the arguments:

mode

The destination for messages. The value is one of:

syslog

Messages go through syslog(3). The logger calls openlog(3) immediately with the ndelay and pid options.

stderr

Messages go to standard error, with one line for each message. Each line starts with a local-time stamp and the level in upper case.

quiet

Messages go nowhere. The logger discards them before it does a check of the level.

The default is stderr.

level

The lowest level to emit. The default is info.

ident

The program name that the logger passes to openlog(3). The default is fugu. The logger uses this argument only when mode is syslog.

facility

The syslog facility. The value is a Sys::Syslog constant, or one of the names daemon, user or local0 through local7. The default is LOG_DAEMON.

debug, info, notice, warning, error

$log->info($fmt, @args);

Each method logs one message at the level that its name gives. When @args is not empty, the method formats $fmt through sprintf(3). When @args is empty, the method uses $fmt as a literal string.

There is one method for each level, and no other spelling parses.

set_level

set_level($level) changes the lowest level to emit on a logger after its creation. If the value is not a known level name, the logger uses info.

level

level returns the lowest level to emit, by name. The name is one of the six canonical levels, whatever spelling the caller used.

mode

mode returns the destination, one of the MODE_SYSLOG, MODE_STDERR and MODE_QUIET constants. The constants hold the strings syslog, stderr and quiet.

reopen

reopen closes and opens the log again with the same settings. A daemon calls this after it drops privileges: the syslog(3) connection belongs to the user that opened it. In the other modes the method does nothing.

This replaces the older pattern of discarding the logger and building an identical one. That pattern needed every call site to learn the new object.

default

default returns the process default logger. The first call creates a stderr logger, so the method never returns undef.

This is the fallback for library code. A module takes a log argument and uses default when the caller gives none. Thus no library dies for the lack of a logger, and no library needs a global of its own.

set_default

set_default($log) replaces the process default logger and returns the new default. A program calls this once at startup.

RETURN VALUES

new, default and set_default return a logger object. reopen returns the object. level and mode return a name. The logging methods and set_level have no useful return value.

EXAMPLES

This example logs to standard error in the foreground, and to syslog in the background, with no change to the call sites:

my $log = Fugu::Log->new(
    mode  => $foreground ? 'stderr' : 'syslog',
    ident => 'mydaemon',
    level => $verbose ? 'debug' : 'info',
);
Fugu::Log->set_default($log);

This example opens the syslog connection again as the unprivileged user:

Fugu::Privdrop->drop_privileges(user => '_myapp');
$log->reopen;

ERRORS

new dies if mode is not one of the three names above. An unknown level or facility is not an error. The level becomes info, and the facility becomes LOG_DAEMON.

SEE ALSO

syslog(3), Fugu::Daemon, Sys::Syslog, syslog.conf(5)

AUTHORS

Dick Olsson <hi@senzilla.io>

CAVEATS

The logging methods pass the format string to sprintf(3) only when arguments follow it. Thus a message that has a percent sign is safe alone, but not when an argument follows. Log variable text with %s. Do not interpolate the text into the format string.

A process must create no more than one syslog-mode logger. openlog(3) and closelog(3) act on process-wide state. Thus, when a second logger goes out of scope, it closes the connection that the first logger still uses. Use reopen on the one logger instead of building a second one.