Logging to Standard Out

To be Reviewed By: 1/21/2020

Authors: Jacob Barrett

Status: Draft | Discussion | Active | Dropped | Superseded

Superseded by: N/A

Related: N/A

Problem

Currently logging to stdout is not consistent between client, server and locator. If log-file is null on a client then it will log to stdout by default, but on servers and locators it will log to a file named after the member. Setting the log-file to "" (empty string) on the server will result in logging to stdout, but on a locator it is treated like the null case and logs to a file. The only way get the locator to log to stdout is to override the log4j.xml file.

Anti-Goals

Do not change the current default behavior in client, server, or locators when handling null or "" (empty string).

Solution

Introduce a new value log-file of "-" (dash) to indicate standard out, which is a common standard across most applications. When the logger is configured and thee log-file value is "-" then the logger will log to standard out and not to any files.

Changes and Additions to Public Interface

Changes will be needed in documentation to reference this new value for logging to standard out.

Performance Impact

As no changes will be made to logging itself there is not impact to performance.

Backwards Compatibility and Upgrade Path

Since no changes are being made to the current behaviors there should be no impact to rolling upgrades and backwards compatibility.

Prior Art

N/A

FAQ

N/A

Errata

N/A