We are a commercial software development company evaluating the suitability of log4j for our enterprise logging needs. With enterprise logging there are many issues to consider. Log4j is the most comprehensive solution I've seen so far. I'm sending this information to give the log4j group and understanding of our needs. Maybe this will be helpful in your efforts to build better logging.
Here are a few of our high level logging objectives: 1) Logging should be an enterprise solution. Both C++ and Java in our case on a large supported platform matrix. 2) Should work well in a distributed environment. Configuration of logging and centralized presentation of collected data are considerations. 3) Logging should be supported for plugins, both ActiveX and Java. Download time is an issue here. 4) To the extent that it's possible, all components in the enterprise should have the same logging capabilities. 5) Logging should be local or centralized depending upon message type. 6) Logging solution should define a namespace to control captured message granularity. 7) Logging modality is adjustable and controlled by namespace. For example, diagnostic messages are stored in a ring buffer locally while usage statistics are forwarded to a centralized logging server. Diagnostics data is only interesting if there is a problem...other than that it's not used. 8) Synchronized time stamping. How is it best controlled in the enterprise? Everyone has a thought on this. 9) Licensing must be liberal enough for it's use in a commercial software product. If there are costs, they should be reasonable. As you can see log4j hits the mark in many areas and surpasses our expectations in others. Here are some issues I've been thinking about: 1) Log4j is an implementation NOT a standard. If there were standards it may make an enterprise solution a more viable option. Maybe it would be good to approach a standards body with this idea. Log4j is a good start. 2) One could argue logging is part of an implementation and not worthy of standards but that same argument could be applied to content delivery....and we all know how valuable web servers and web browsers are today. 3) Standards ideas... Specifications describing interfaces and capabilities to begin with but also recommendations of what to log. Log header content, c++, java, plugins, etc. For example, a recommendation may be to print a log header. The header in Java may consist of: command line parameters, all java property settings(classpath for sure), etc. 4) Because of the 1st issue the quality of non-java implementations of log4j vary. 5) Logging is probably one of the most redesigned components. Each company has designed their own and probably multiple times one for each product. 6) It's something every product needs, largely overlooked, and useful for field based diagnostics. Just a few things to think about... Good job! Keep up the good work and stay motivated! Milton Smith Brio Software [EMAIL PROTECTED] ===== **************************************** **************************************** ** Milton Smith ** [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** [Yahoo! spam to follow] **************************************** **************************************** __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
