[tpm] Log4Perl

Alex Beamish talexb at gmail.com
Sun Jan 27 09:38:42 PST 2013


Hi Tom,

It is possible to change the Log4perl logging level without making source
code changes -- you just adjust a value in the config file. Of course, it
makes sense that making even that change on a Production machine would
require permission. Changing the logging level would have a non-zero impact
on the performance of the application, as well as the rate at which it
consumed disk space (assuming you're logging to a disk file -- there are
lots of other ways that events can be logged, of course).

Yes, everyone *wants* to write their own logging system -- of course, the
reasoning is that a) existing solutions don't meet their needs, b) anyway
they don't have time to learn someone elses's system, c) they won't be able
to get permission to install someone else's code and d) it's just going to
be something simple. These are all political reasons, and not technical
reasons, and probably flow from a) programmer laziness, b) programmer
hubris and c) edicts from PHBs who last wrote software when it was
assembler for IBM mainframes ("in my day ..").

As always, there are many good reasons to not make changes to a Production
system on the fly. You'll have to present a business case or risk
management assessment for your request, explaining why it's not possible to
get the information any other way. It's even possible you may figure out a
way while you're writing that up.

Cheers,

Alex

On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 9:05 PM, Tom Legrady <legrady at gmail.com> wrote:

> Maybe I can get a quick answer here, or maybe we can discuss it next week.
>
> One suposed advantage of Log4Perl is that you can dynamically alter the
> debug level and get detailed logs when an error has been seen, without
> changing the code or (significantly) the environment. Does anyone actually
> use this. At Morgan Stanley it doesn't work that way; it would require a
> major change which would require permission and would affect a large number
> of programs, not just one.
>
> Who was it who said, "Logging modules are so wonderful, every team writes
> their own"?
>
>
> Tom
>
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> toronto-pm at pm.org
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>
>
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