NAME

Log::Log4perl::CommandLine - Simple Command Line Interface for Log4perl

SYNOPSIS

 # Simple: just use the Module, with all the options

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:all);

 # Then run your program
 my_program.pl --verbose
 my_program.pl -v
 my_program.pl --debug
 my_program.pl -d
 my_program.pl --quiet
 my_program.pl -q

 # Flexible: include specific logging options:

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(q v d);
 # or
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:short);

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(quiet verbose);
 # or
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:long);

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(trace debug info warn error fatal off);
 # or
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:levels);

 # q = quiet = off
 # v = verbose = info
 # d = debug

 my_program.pl --debug
 my_program.pl --debug MyModule
 my_program.pl --debug MyModule,MyOtherModule --debug Foo

 # Override configuration on command line:

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(logconfig logfile loglevel);
 or
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:logopts);

 my_program.pl --logconfig /some/log4perl.conf

 my_program.pl --logfile /my/logfile.log

 my_program.pl --loglevel MyCat=debug   # equivalent to "-debug MyCat"
 my_program.pl --loglevel MyCat=mylevel # can use for custom log levels

 # Include simple Log4perl configurations:

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:logconfig /my/default/log4perl.conf);

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:logfile /my/default/logfile.log);

 # These match Log::Log4perl->easy_init():
 use Log::Log4perl qw(:levels);   # needed to define constants

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine ':loginit' => { level => $INFO };

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine ':loginit' => { layout => '%d %c %m%n' };

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine ':loginit' => { level => $WARN,
                                                layout => '%d %c %m%n' };

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine ':loginit' => [ { level => $WARN,
                                                  layout => '%d %c %m%n',
                                                  category => 'foo',
                                                  file => '>>foo.log' },
                                                { level => $DEBUG,
                                                  category => 'bar',
                                                  file => '>>bar.log' } ];

 # or inline a log4perl configuration:
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine ':loginit' => q(...some log4perl config...);

 # control which logger the unspecified levels affect:

 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:logcategory root);
 # or
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:logcategory main);

 # if you don't specify :logcategory, levels INFO and higher => 'root',
 # and DEBUG and TRACE => 'main' (see below)

 # If you want to do your own initialization:
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(:all :noinit);

 ... initialize Log4perl yourself...

 # Explicitly handle log command line options now
 Log::Log4perl::CommandLine::handlelogoptions();

 # Also call handlelogoptions() explicitly if you later redefine Log4perl

 # Export handlelogoptions() to caller's namespace
 use Log::Log4perl::CommandLine qw(handlelogoptions);
 handlelogoptions();

DESCRIPTION

Log::Log4perl::CommandLine parses some command line options, allowing for simple configuration of Log4perl using the command line, or easy, temporary overriding of a more complicated Log4perl configuration from a file.

If you want to use the constants ($ERROR, $INFO, etc.), you must use Log::Log4perl.

Any options parsed and understood by this module are stripped from @ARGV (by Getopt::Long), so they won't interfere with later command line parsing.

See Log::Log4perl::CommandLine::Cookbook for examples of usage.

These enable command line options, parsed with Getopt::Long, so you can precede them on the command line with either '-' or '--'.

OPTIONS

:short q v d
:long quiet verbose
:levels trace debug info warn error fatal off

On the use line, you can explicitly specify just the options you want, or the group (:short :long :levels) or :all to get them all.

q = quiet = off

v = verbose = info

d = debug

Each of these "level" options sets the logging level to the specified level. They each take an optional parameter with the category (or categories) to apply the level to, or can be specified multiply.

e.g. --debug --debug MyCategory --debug Foo,Bar --debug Foo --debug Bar

If the optional parameter is not specified, the default behavior is to apply the level to the root logger if the level is OFF, FATAL, ERROR, WARN or INFO and to the 'main' logger if the level is DEBUG or TRACE. This may seem a little weird, and it took me a while to come to this default, but it fits the way I work best.

This means: my_program.pl -q or --quiet

suppresses warnings and errors in the whole logger hierarchy (unless you've explicitly forced them through some other Log4perl setting) -- usually what I want quiet to mean. Likewise, -v tells every module to be a little more verbose.

 my_program.pl -d or --debug or --trace

however, just apply to the main program, so I don't get debugging information from other modules I'm not working on.

You can also specifically refer to the root category with 'root':

 my_program.pl --trace root

If you don't like this behavior, you can explicitly define the default log category with :logcategory <category>

:logcategory <default category>

This is the category to use if one isn't specified in one of the level options.

:logopts or loglevel
 --loglevel verbose
 --loglevel MyModule=debug
 --loglevel Foo=info,main=debug
 --loglevel foo=info --loglevel main=debug

This is just another way to set the level. This can help avoid option space pollution if you already use the standard options for other purposes, or if you've defined special Log4perl levels beyond the standard ones (but don't do that).

:logopts or logconfig

Enable --logconfig /my/log4perl.conf to override the entire Log4perl configuration.

:logopts or logfile

Enable --logfile /my/logfile.log to create a log file. You can also append a special layout for the log file like this:

 my_program.pl --logfile '/my/logfile.log|%d %m%n'

Be sure to respect your shell's metacharacters and quote when needed.

:logconfig '/my/log4perl.conf'

Specify a Log4perl configuration file. Contrary to normal Log4perl, it is OK if the file is missing, things will just proceed with the default configuration.

:logfile '/my/default/logfile.log'

Specify a default log file. Similar to the --logfile option, you can append a layout :logfile '/my/logfile.log|%d %m%n'

:loginit { ...Log::Log4perl->easy_init() configuration... }

See basic examples in SYNOPSIS, Cookbook or Log::Log4perl for more details.

:loginit '... embedded Log4perl configuration ...'

See basic examples in Cookbook or Log::Log4perl for more details.

:noinit

Disable all the automatic Log4perl initialization. You must call handlelogoptions() explicitly after you initialize Log4perl yourself.

:noinit is incompatible with the '--logconfig' command line option.

handlelogoptions

Exports the handlelogoptions() subroutine to the caller's namespace. Call handlelogoptions() after re-initializing Log4perl to re-apply the command line overrides.

AUTHOR

Curt Tilmes, <ctilmes@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2008 by Curt Tilmes

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.