NAME¶
Log::Dispatch::Config - Log4j for Perl
SYNOPSIS¶
use Log::Dispatch::Config;
Log::Dispatch::Config->configure('/path/to/log.conf');
my $dispatcher = Log::Dispatch::Config->instance;
$dispatcher->debug('this is debug message');
$dispatcher->emergency('something *bad* happened!');
# automatic reloading conf file, when modified
Log::Dispatch::Config->configure_and_watch('/path/to/log.conf');
# or if you write your own config parser:
use Log::Dispatch::Configurator::XMLSimple;
my $config = Log::Dispatch::Configurator::XMLSimple->new('log.xml');
Log::Dispatch::Config->configure($config);
DESCRIPTION¶
Log::Dispatch::Config is a subclass of Log::Dispatch and provides a way to
configure Log::Dispatch object with configulation file (default, in AppConfig
format). I mean, this is log4j for Perl, not with all API compatibility
though.
METHOD¶
This module has a class method "configure" which parses config file
for later creation of the Log::Dispatch::Config singleton instance. (Actual
construction of the object is done in the first "instance" call).
So, what you should do is call "configure" method once in somewhere
(like "startup.pl" in mod_perl), then you can get configured
dispatcher instance via "Log::Dispatch::Config->instance".
CONFIGURATION¶
Here is an example of the config file:
dispatchers = file screen
file.class = Log::Dispatch::File
file.min_level = debug
file.filename = /path/to/log
file.mode = append
file.format = [%d] [%p] %m at %F line %L%n
screen.class = Log::Dispatch::Screen
screen.min_level = info
screen.stderr = 1
screen.format = %m
In this example, config file is written in AppConfig format. See
Log::Dispatch::Configurator::AppConfig for details.
See "PLUGGABLE CONFIGURATOR" for other config parsing scheme.
GLOBAL PARAMETERS¶
- dispatchers
-
dispatchers = file screen
"dispatchers" defines logger names, which will be split by spaces.
If this parameter is unset, no logging is done.
- format
-
format = [%d] [%p] %m at %F line %L%n
"format" defines log format. Possible conversions format are
%d datetime string (ctime(3))
%p priority (debug, info, warning ...)
%m message string
%F filename
%L line number
%P package
%n newline (\n)
%% % itself
Note that datetime (%d) format is configurable by passing
"strftime" fmt in braket after %d. (I know it looks quite messy,
but its compatible with Java Log4j ;)
format = [%d{%Y%m%d}] %m # datetime is now strftime "%Y%m%d"
If you have Time::Piece, this module uses its "strftime"
implementation, otherwise POSIX.
"format" defined here would apply to all the log messages to
dispatchers. This parameter is optional.
See "CALLER STACK" for details about package, line number and
filename.
PARAMETERS FOR EACH DISPATCHER¶
Parameters for each dispatcher should be prefixed with "name.", where
"name" is the name of each one, defined in global
"dispatchers" parameter.
You can also use ".ini" style grouping like:
[foo]
class = Log::Dispatch::File
min_level = debug
See Log::Dispatch::Configurator::AppConfig for details.
- class
-
screen.class = Log::Dispatch::Screen
"class" defines class name of Log::Dispatch subclasses. This
parameter is essential.
- format
-
screen.format = -- %m --
"format" defines log format which would be applied only to the
dispatcher. Note that if you define global "format" also, %m is
double formated (first global one, next each dispatcher one). This
parameter is optional.
- (others)
-
screen.min_level = info
screen.stderr = 1
Other parameters would be passed to the each dispatcher construction. See
Log::Dispatch::* manpage for the details.
SINGLETON¶
Declared "instance" method would make
"Log::Dispatch::Config" class singleton, so multiple calls of
"instance" will all result in returning same object.
my $one = Log::Dispatch::Config->instance;
my $two = Log::Dispatch::Config->instance; # same as $one
See GoF Design Pattern book for Singleton Pattern.
But in practice, in persistent environment like mod_perl, lifetime of Singleton
instance becomes sometimes messy. If you want to reload singleton object
manually, call "reload" method.
Log::Dispatch::Config->reload;
And, if you want to reload object on the fly, as you edit "log.conf"
or something like that, what you should do is to call
"configure_and_watch" method on Log::Dispatch::Config instead of
"configure". Then "instance" call will check mtime of
configuration file, and compares it with instanciation time of singleton
object. If config file is newer than last instanciation, it will automatically
reload object.
NAMESPACE COLLISION¶
If you use Log::Dispatch::Config in multiple projects on the same perl
interpreter (like mod_perl), namespace collision would be a problem. Bizzare
thing will happen when you call
"Log::Dispatch::Config->configure" multiple times with differenct
argument.
In such cases, what you should do is to define your own logger class.
package My::Logger;
use Log::Dispatch::Config;
use base qw(Log::Dispatch::Config);
Or make wrapper for it. See POE::Component::Logger implementation by Matt
Sergeant.
PLUGGABLE CONFIGURATOR¶
If you pass filename to "configure" method call, this module handles
the config file with AppConfig. You can change config parsing scheme by
passing another pluggable configurator object.
Here is a way to declare new configurator class. The example below is hardwired
version equivalent to the one above in "CONFIGURATION".
- •
- Inherit from Log::Dispatch::Configurator.
package Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Hardwired;
use base qw(Log::Dispatch::Configurator);
Declare your own "new" constructor. Stub "new" method is
defined in Configurator base class, but you want to put parsing method in
your own constructor. In this example, we just bless reference. Note that
your object should be blessed hash.
sub new { bless {}, shift }
- •
- Implement two required object methods "get_attrs_global" and
"get_attrs".
"get_attrs_global" should return hash reference of global
parameters. "dispatchers" should be an array reference of names
of dispatchers.
sub get_attrs_global {
my $self = shift;
return {
format => undef,
dispatchers => [ qw(file screen) ],
};
}
"get_attrs" accepts name of a dispatcher and should return hash
reference of parameters associated with the dispatcher.
sub get_attrs {
my($self, $name) = @_;
if ($name eq 'file') {
return {
class => 'Log::Dispatch::File',
min_level => 'debug',
filename => '/path/to/log',
mode => 'append',
format => '[%d] [%p] %m at %F line %L%n',
};
}
elsif ($name eq 'screen') {
return {
class => 'Log::Dispatch::Screen',
min_level => 'info',
stderr => 1,
format => '%m',
};
}
else {
die "invalid dispatcher name: $name";
}
}
- •
- Implement optional "needs_reload" and "reload"
methods. "needs_reload" should return boolean value if the
object is stale and needs reloading itself. This method will be triggered
when you configure logging object with "configure_and_watch"
method.
Stub config file mtime based "needs_reload" method is declared in
Log::Dispatch::Configurator, so if your config class is based on
filesystem files, you do not need to reimplement this.
If you do not need singleton-ness at all, always return true.
sub needs_reload { 1 }
"reload" method should redo parsing of the config file.
Configurator base class has a stub null "reload" method, so you
should better override it.
See Log::Dispatch::Configurator::AppConfig source code for details.
- •
- That's all. Now you can plug your own configurator (Hardwired) into
Log::Dispatch::Config. What you should do is to pass configurator object
to "configure" method call instead of config file name.
use Log::Dispatch::Config;
use Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Hardwired;
my $config = Log::Dispatch::Configurator::Hardwired->new;
Log::Dispatch::Config->configure($config);
CALLER STACK¶
When you call logging method from your subroutines / methods, caller stack would
increase and thus you can't see where the log really comes from.
package Logger;
my $Logger = Log::Dispatch::Config->instance;
sub logit {
my($class, $level, $msg) = @_;
$Logger->$level($msg);
}
package main;
Logger->logit('debug', 'foobar');
You can adjust package variable $Log::Dispatch::Config::CallerDepth to increase
the caller stack depth. The default value is 0.
sub logit {
my($class, $level, $msg) = @_;
local $Log::Dispatch::Config::CallerDepth = 1;
$Logger->$level($msg);
}
Note that your log caller's namespace should not match against
"/^Log::Dispatch/", which makes this module confusing.
AUTHOR¶
Tatsuhiko Miyagawa <miyagawa@bulknews.net> with much help from Matt
Sergeant <matt@sergeant.org>.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.
SEE ALSO¶
Log::Dispatch::Configurator::AppConfig, Log::Dispatch, AppConfig,
POE::Component::Logger