log4perl-devel

[log4perl-devel] Patch for default config file (v0.37)

[Roland B. <rol...@ff...>]

The following patch will make "$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf"
the default file for the init method if it is called
without parameters. What do you think about having a default
config file? - Roland

#-------------------------------------
--- Config.pm_org        Mon Aug 11 07:03:28 2003
+++ Config.pm        Thu Sep 25 23:07:31 2003
@@ -495,6 +495,12 @@
                      $res->message." ";
             }
         }else{
+            unless (defined $config) {
+                my $default = "$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf";
+                # BETTER:
+                # my $default = catfile($ENV{HOME} || die, 'log4perl.conf');
+                $config = $default if -f $default;
+            }
             open FILE, "<$config" or die "Cannot open config file '$config'";
             @text = <FILE>;
             close FILE;

#-------------------------------------


-- 
Roland Bauer
http://www.fff.at/contact/ 

Re: [log4perl-devel] Patch for default config file (v0.37)

[Mike S. <msc...@ao...>]

Roland Bauer wrote:

 > The following patch will make "$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf"
 > the default file for the init method if it is called
 > without parameters. What do you think about having a default
 > config file?

Hmm, Kevin and I talked about this a bit, turns out that $ENV{HOME} 
isn't portable (Win32, Mac?). Also, I don't think log4j has anything 
like this (probably for the same reason). And it's no hassle to write 
init("$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf") if you really want this file name as a 
default -- so, sorry, I'd rather leave that up to the application to 
decide. Hope that's ok with you -- but keep the suggestions coming! :)

-- 
-- Mike
Mike Schilli
m...@pe...

Re[2]: [log4perl-devel] Patch for default config file (v0.37)

[Roland B. <rol...@ff...>]

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 23:15:36 -0700 Mike Schilli <msc...@ao...> wrote:

MS> Roland Bauer wrote:
MS> 
MS>  > The following patch will make "$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf"
MS>  > the default file for the init method if it is called
MS>  > without parameters. What do you think about having a default
MS>  > config file?
MS> 
MS> Hmm, Kevin and I talked about this a bit, turns out that $ENV{HOME} 
MS> isn't portable (Win32, Mac?). Also, I don't think log4j has anything 
MS> like this (probably for the same reason). And it's no hassle to write 
MS> init("$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf") if you really want this file name as
MS> a 
MS> default -- so, sorry, I'd rather leave that up to the application to 
MS> decide. Hope that's ok with you -- but keep the suggestions coming! :)

You are right, $ENV{HOME} is not portable, however, many CPAN modules
rely on that so the Windows people have to cope with this situation and
there are attempts to give a solution, e. g. some CPAN-Modules
   - User
   - File::HomeDir

BTW, the lack of some environment variables in Windows is a big problem
and I'd really liked a portable Perl solution. Maybe a module
Env::Portable with Env::Portable::Win32, ... (like File::Spec).

If I wrote init("$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf") this would be portable neither.
It would be just *my* modules fault instead of Log4perl's fault ;-)

Maybe the default mechanism with $ENV{HOME} could be supported if
and only if $ENV{HOME} is defined? 

Another suggestion were to support an environment variable which keeps
the name of the default config file (see my posting from Sun, 21 Sep 2003):

>From http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/docs/manual.html:
>"In case the system property log4j.configuration is not defined, 
>then set the string variable resource to its 
>default value "log4j.properties"."

Maybe $ENV{log4j_configuration}? $ENV{LOG4PERL_CONFIGURATION}?

It could be easily implemented. However, as you pointed out, it's
an important conceptual decision what defaults should be supported and
in what way. The question is how Java system properties can/should be
supported in Perl.

What do you think about my second wish (from posting mentioned before):

>2) Is the function easy_init really necessary? Or - at least - could
>init accept the same parameters?
>
>The following syntax seems ok:
>
>init($filename); 
>init(\$config_text);
>init(\%key_value_pairs);
>init($url);
>
>easy_init($ERROR); # where the string contains a number
>easy_init(\%key_value_pairs);
>easy_init(\%key_value_pairs_1, \%key_value_pairs_2, ...);
>
>If I am switching from
>"easy" usage to "standard" usage, I have to 
>a) remove ':easy'
>b) change easy_init to init
>c) have to supply a config file name
>
>I'd like to omit step b) and c)  ;-)
>
>Summary:
>- the call of init without parameters should be ok (a default config
>  file should be searched
>- importing ':easy' should signal that the user wants "easy" usage
>- init should accept $DEBUG, ... as parameters (if ":easy" has been imported) 

Thanks for your patience ;-)

Roland

Re: Re[2]: [log4perl-devel] Patch for default config file (v0.37)

[Mike S. <msc...@ao...>]

Roland Bauer wrote:

 > If I wrote init("$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf") this would be portable
 > neither.
 > It would be just *my* modules fault instead of Log4perl's fault ;-)

Exactly. What do you gain by omitting the path and relying on a default? 
We can certainly discuss this, I'm just not (yet) seeing the benefit. Do 
you have a scenario?

 > >2) Is the function easy_init really necessary? Or - at least - could
 > >init accept the same parameters?
 > >
 > >The following syntax seems ok:
 > >
 > >init($filename);
 > >init(\$config_text);
 > >init(\%key_value_pairs);
 > >init($url);
 > >
 > >easy_init($ERROR); # where the string contains a number
 > >easy_init(\%key_value_pairs);
 > >easy_init(\%key_value_pairs_1, \%key_value_pairs_2, ...);
 > >
 > >If I am switching from
 > >"easy" usage to "standard" usage, I have to
 > >a) remove ':easy'
 > >b) change easy_init to init
 > >c) have to supply a config file name
 > >
 > >I'd like to omit step b) and c)  ;-)
 > >
 > >Summary:
 > >- the call of init without parameters should be ok (a default config
 > >  file should be searched
 > >- importing ':easy' should signal that the user wants "easy" usage
 > >- init should accept $DEBUG, ... as parameters (if ":easy" has been
 > imported)

Sorry -- I did miss this question in your previous email. Actually, 
there's two different ways to use qw(:easy):

1) use qw(:easy) and easy_init() - one-parameter-init plus macros
2) use qw(:easy) and init() - just use the DEBUG(), ERROR(), ... macros

I don't see an easy way of consolidating the two (and, we need to 
maintain backwards-compatibility).

-- 
-- Mike
Mike Schilli
m...@pe...

Re[4]: [log4perl-devel] Patch for default config file (v0.37)

[Roland B. <rol...@ff...>]

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 17:48:15 -0700 Mike Schilli <msc...@ao...> wrote:

MS> Roland Bauer wrote:
MS> 
MS>  > If I wrote init("$ENV{HOME}/log4perl.conf") this would be portable
MS>  > neither.
MS>  > It would be just *my* modules fault instead of Log4perl's fault ;-)
MS> 
MS> Exactly. What do you gain by omitting the path and relying on a
MS> default? 
MS> We can certainly discuss this, I'm just not (yet) seeing the benefit.
MS> Do 
MS> you have a scenario?

I think defaults are mostly a good idea. They make things easier where
you do not need full control. For most situations I personally would like
to use the same configuration. So a default would be nice (for me).



MS> there's two different ways to use qw(:easy):
MS> 
MS> 1) use qw(:easy) and easy_init() - one-parameter-init plus macros
MS> 2) use qw(:easy) and init() - just use the DEBUG(), ERROR(), ... macros

Calling init without an argument does not seem to work, even if I use
":easy" ... or did I misunderstand your information?

Regards
Roland

Re: Re[4]: [log4perl-devel] Patch for default config file (v0.37)

[Mike S. <msc...@ao...>]

Roland Bauer wrote:

 > Calling init without an argument does not seem to work, even if I use
 > ":easy" ... or did I misunderstand your information?

You still have to call init(...) with the usual parameters. (:easy) just 
imports the macros in addition.

-- 
-- Mike
Mike Schilli
m...@pe...