Logging library

[tomf]

Has anyone ever thought of creating a proper logging library for KSP? In java I am used to things like logback which give you lots of control over how your logging is written and makes it easy to configure.

[stibbons]

I'm deeply disappointed that this post was a question and not a release announcement.

[sarbian]

Do we really need a rolling file appender with daily and size trigger in KSP ? You have a Debug.Log,  Debug.LogWarning and Debug.LogError. Adding a static call that only uses one of those when some var is set is not exactly a thousands lines project

[tomf]

Just now, sarbian said:

Do we really need a rolling file appender with daily and size trigger in KSP ? You have a Debug.Log,  Debug.LogWarning and Debug.LogError. Adding a static call that only uses one of those when some var is set is not exactly a thousands lines project

No, but the ability to turn have levels of logging and to turn on and off logging for different classes would be useful. I frequently have people reporting issues that I can't diagnose without adding a bunch of logging, but releasing that logging to all users is going to be a significant slowdown. It would be nice to be able to provide a simple config change that would turn on logging for just the affected person.

[sarbian]

Just now, tomf said:

No, but the ability to turn have levels of logging and to turn on and off logging for different classes would be useful. I frequently have people reporting issues that I can't diagnose without adding a bunch of logging, but releasing that logging to all users is going to be a significant slowdown. It would be nice to be able to provide a simple config change that would turn on logging for just the affected person.

Indeed, I did not though of that case. Worth having a look.

[HebaruSan]

Frankly I'd settle for an "alternate debug download" in Github releases. Then if someone's having an issue, they can install that version and send in logs.

[paulprogart]

Personally I don't like the idea of installing an extra dependency mod just for logging.  I just add a debugLogging configuration setting and do extra logging when it's enabled... even in Update()/FixedUpdate() these checks aren't going to take enough extra time to matter.  (But you shouldn't log repeatedly in there anyhow... aggregate it and log once at the end instead.)

I also send everything through my own methods which tack on the mod prefix in square brackets.  Not only does this make the messages easier to find, but in the Alt+F12 display KSP will do colouring based on that.

 

[Kobymaru]

I have been pondering to create a Telemetry library, but that would be a different focus. I would like to have a library for logging numerical values that help to debug KSP math/simulations.

Kind of like writing to CSV files in every frame, but buffered and configurable (channels, frequency, ...).

 

[sarbian]

17 hours ago, paulprogart said:

Personally I don't like the idea of installing an extra dependency mod just for logging.  I just add a debugLogging configuration setting and do extra logging when it's enabled... even in Update()/FixedUpdate() these checks aren't going to take enough extra time to matter.  (But you shouldn't log repeatedly in there anyhow... aggregate it and log once at the end instead.)

I also send everything through my own methods which tack on the mod prefix in square brackets.  Not only does this make the messages easier to find, but in the Alt+F12 display KSP will do colouring based on that.

 

This could just be a source file you add to your project. 

But runtime conditional logging usually has the default of allocating the strings even when disabled... Building with a [Conditional("DEBUG")] attribute on your logging calls may indeed be a better idea.

[Rodhern]

19 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

Frankly I'd settle for an "alternate debug download" in Github releases. Then if someone's having an issue, they can install that version and send in logs.

I think that makes sense too.

[linuxgurugamer]

I use a (for me) standardized log library for many of my mods.  I got it from somewhere, and have made changes over time.