// Package log provides a structured logger. // // Deprecated: Use github.com/go-kit/log instead. // // Structured logging produces logs easily consumed later by humans or // machines. Humans might be interested in debugging errors, or tracing // specific requests. Machines might be interested in counting interesting // events, or aggregating information for off-line processing. In both cases, // it is important that the log messages are structured and actionable. // Package log is designed to encourage both of these best practices. // // Basic Usage // // The fundamental interface is Logger. Loggers create log events from // key/value data. The Logger interface has a single method, Log, which // accepts a sequence of alternating key/value pairs, which this package names // keyvals. // // type Logger interface { // Log(keyvals ...interface{}) error // } // // Here is an example of a function using a Logger to create log events. // // func RunTask(task Task, logger log.Logger) string { // logger.Log("taskID", task.ID, "event", "starting task") // ... // logger.Log("taskID", task.ID, "event", "task complete") // } // // The keys in the above example are "taskID" and "event". The values are // task.ID, "starting task", and "task complete". Every key is followed // immediately by its value. // // Keys are usually plain strings. Values may be any type that has a sensible // encoding in the chosen log format. With structured logging it is a good // idea to log simple values without formatting them. This practice allows // the chosen logger to encode values in the most appropriate way. // // Contextual Loggers // // A contextual logger stores keyvals that it includes in all log events. // Building appropriate contextual loggers reduces repetition and aids // consistency in the resulting log output. With, WithPrefix, and WithSuffix // add context to a logger. We can use With to improve the RunTask example. // // func RunTask(task Task, logger log.Logger) string { // logger = log.With(logger, "taskID", task.ID) // logger.Log("event", "starting task") // ... // taskHelper(task.Cmd, logger) // ... // logger.Log("event", "task complete") // } // // The improved version emits the same log events as the original for the // first and last calls to Log. Passing the contextual logger to taskHelper // enables each log event created by taskHelper to include the task.ID even // though taskHelper does not have access to that value. Using contextual // loggers this way simplifies producing log output that enables tracing the // life cycle of individual tasks. (See the Contextual example for the full // code of the above snippet.) // // Dynamic Contextual Values // // A Valuer function stored in a contextual logger generates a new value each // time an event is logged. The Valuer example demonstrates how this feature // works. // // Valuers provide the basis for consistently logging timestamps and source // code location. The log package defines several valuers for that purpose. // See Timestamp, DefaultTimestamp, DefaultTimestampUTC, Caller, and // DefaultCaller. A common logger initialization sequence that ensures all log // entries contain a timestamp and source location looks like this: // // logger := log.NewLogfmtLogger(log.NewSyncWriter(os.Stdout)) // logger = log.With(logger, "ts", log.DefaultTimestampUTC, "caller", log.DefaultCaller) // // Concurrent Safety // // Applications with multiple goroutines want each log event written to the // same logger to remain separate from other log events. Package log provides // two simple solutions for concurrent safe logging. // // NewSyncWriter wraps an io.Writer and serializes each call to its Write // method. Using a SyncWriter has the benefit that the smallest practical // portion of the logging logic is performed within a mutex, but it requires // the formatting Logger to make only one call to Write per log event. // // NewSyncLogger wraps any Logger and serializes each call to its Log method. // Using a SyncLogger has the benefit that it guarantees each log event is // handled atomically within the wrapped logger, but it typically serializes // both the formatting and output logic. Use a SyncLogger if the formatting // logger may perform multiple writes per log event. // // Error Handling // // This package relies on the practice of wrapping or decorating loggers with // other loggers to provide composable pieces of functionality. It also means // that Logger.Log must return an error because some // implementations—especially those that output log data to an io.Writer—may // encounter errors that cannot be handled locally. This in turn means that // Loggers that wrap other loggers should return errors from the wrapped // logger up the stack. // // Fortunately, the decorator pattern also provides a way to avoid the // necessity to check for errors every time an application calls Logger.Log. // An application required to panic whenever its Logger encounters // an error could initialize its logger as follows. // // fmtlogger := log.NewLogfmtLogger(log.NewSyncWriter(os.Stdout)) // logger := log.LoggerFunc(func(keyvals ...interface{}) error { // if err := fmtlogger.Log(keyvals...); err != nil { // panic(err) // } // return nil // }) package log