C++ logging framework suggestions

Question

I'm looking for a C++ logging framework with the following features:

logs have a severity (info, warning, error, critical, etc)
logs are tagged with a module name
framework has a UI (or CLI) to configure for which modules we will actually log to file, and the minimum severity required for a log to be written to file.
has a viewer which lets me search per module, severity, module name, error name, etc

Don't have an answer, but I've looked for the same sometimes and haven't found one I like. — Michael Ekstrand, Nov 15 '09 at 01:55
process id and thread id prove very useful for multi-threaded applications. — madrag, Oct 30 '13 at 23:58
I'd advise against log4cxx. Unfortunately, this project seems to be dead (I only realized this _after_ I replaced my own logging framework with log4cxx and ran into some problems). I only want to mention it here, since this article is the first hit when I google for "C++ logging framework". It would be nice if the Apache Foundation mentioned the state of log4cxx on their homepage for log4cxx, so others would be warned, too. — StuartRedmann, Jun 25 '15 at 14:29
It may not suit your purposes, but **log4cxx** is again maintained actively. — Andrew Lazarus, Mar 16 '21 at 05:02

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 24 '16 at 14:08

12

Not sure about the configuration from a UI or CLI. I've used both of these logging frameworks at one point or other.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/log4cplus/
https://logging.apache.org/log4cxx/index.html

It wouldn't be too hard to drive your logging based on a configuration file that could be editable by hand or through a quick and dirty GUI or CLI app. Might be a bit harder to adjust these dynamically but not too bad.

Update:

It looks like the proposed Boost.Log is now in Boost 1.54 which is at a stable release. If you are already using Boost than I would take a look at it.

edited Feb 24 '16 at 14:08

Martin Delille

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answered Nov 15 '09 at 02:25

Casey

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I don't like those libraries. They have memory leaks. And the log4cxx requires 5 other apache things in order to get built. – m_pGladiator Feb 24 '10 at 15:52
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@m_pGladiator Could you expand on how/where they leak? Or even a link to some resources that show it (bug reports...)? – Dennis Jan 20 '16 at 13:42
boosting this for mentioning boost.Log – Christian Severin Sep 12 '22 at 11:00

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 14 '13 at 16:24

5

No viewer but you could try pantheios. I have been using it for almost a year now and am quite happy with it.

edited Mar 14 '13 at 16:24

user

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answered Nov 17 '09 at 05:33

ossandcad

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score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 01 '13 at 13:28

4

I strongly suggest Pantheios, as it's the only one that's completely type-safe, and is also very efficient. It imposes a little work on the user, in selecting the right "front-end" and "back-end", but once you've got it working, you can just fix and forget.

It doesn't provide sophisticated logging facilities - e.g. rolling files - but that's by design, because it's intended to be used in combination with other logging libraries that have more functionality (but poorer performance / type-safety).

edited Mar 01 '13 at 13:28

Kleist

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answered Nov 18 '09 at 10:06

dcw

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Claiming that it's "the only" type-safe logging library seems like a bit of an overstatement. Can you back that up with some information? – Tamás Szelei Nov 21 '15 at 13:59

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 26 '13 at 19:31

3

If you care about performance, I suggest you check out Pantheios. In particular, it's got very high performance, and it can be used in combination with other logging libraries -- it acts as an efficient and type-safe layer between the logging library (such as log4cxx) and your application code.

edited Sep 26 '13 at 19:31

Michael Mrozek

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answered Nov 18 '09 at 09:57

JamieH

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 17 '09 at 08:49

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You could use wxWidgets and use it's excellent class for logging. It's rather easy and straightforward. For instance, you can create a dialog which gathers all your logs (e.g. wxLogError, wxLogMessage, wxLogDebug, etc.).

answered Nov 17 '09 at 08:49

nhaa123

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 12 '15 at 21:22

1

Pantheios is a good candidate in term of perormance but my personal preference is P7 library. My internal tests (CPU i7-4870HQ, SSD) shows that P7 is faster than Pantheios.

Pantheios writes 1.8M logs lines per second (time & text message)
P7 writes 2.4M logs lines per second (time, thread, CPU core, function, file, line and text message)

answered Dec 12 '15 at 21:22

Igor

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can you expand on it's uses? Have you had any pain points with P7? The development moved from google code but has not been put onto another platform (e.g. GitHub, BitBucket etc...), any idea why? It looks good but I have concerns over the communication and visibility of the project. – Dennis Jan 19 '16 at 14:56
**Uses**: time-critical applications, embedded systems, games. Useful for observing multiple application/devices at the same time, especially when telemetry is used. **pain points**: perhaps it is log formatting like ("Value=%d", myVal); Have to be careful. **GitHub, BitBucket**: haven't any idea, you may ask author. – Igor Feb 07 '16 at 11:31
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**Communication**: as far as I know communication protocol is based on UDP and there is no encryption by performance reasons. – Igor Feb 07 '16 at 11:39
thanks. I meant communication among the project's development team :) – Dennis Feb 08 '16 at 09:36

C++ logging framework suggestions

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