Logging_and_output#
Overview#
The output, logging, and command-line options of our install/management tools are inconsistent. This RFE aims to clean up some of the inconsistency.
Specifically it addresses:
Inconsistencies between console output and log files
Tools using either –verbose or –debug used for the same purpose
And some collateral issues:
The –version option missing in some tools
The problem of e.g. an accidental ipa-server-install overwriting ipaserver-install.log by the useless message, “The server is already installed”
This is part of #2652 Framework for admin/install tools
Design#
Each command will have these command-line options (added automatically by the framework):
--version show program's version number and exit
-h, --help show the help message and exit
output and logging options:
-q, --quiet Output only errors
-v, --verbose Print debugging information
--log-file (alternate) log file name
The precise meanings of the output options are:
(nothing): print INFO-level messages and above to stderr
-q: only print ERROR-level messages and above to stderr
-v: print all messages to stderr, prefixed with severity level
In all cases, if there is a log file, all messages go to it
In commands that currently have it, the `-d, –debug` option will become a deprecated alias for –verbose.
Note that this RFE only adds new options, so backwards compatibility is maintained.
The tools will use the following log message severities:
CRITICAL for fatal errors
ERROR for critical things that the admin must see even in –quiet mode
WARNING for things that need to stand out in the log
INFO to display normal messages
DEBUG to spam about everything the program does
a plain print statement for things that should not be log, for example interactive prompting should use the console and follow up with a DEBUG mentioning the final value
The commands check their arguments and most do some validation and possible interactive prompting before doing any modification of the system. Since the system is not changed, the user can always re-run with –verbose if there are problems in this phase. Logging information from this phase to a file is useless. The file logging will start after the validation/prompting. The first logged message(s) will mention the command and options used.
Use Cases#
User runs several /usr/sbin/ipa-* commands with the –help option
User sees that the logging-related options are the same in all of those programs.
User runs an ipa-* command with the -q option
User only sees errors.
User runs an ipa-* command (possibly with –log-file, if the command doesn’t log by default)
User later reviews the log file and finds all relevant information.
Implementation#
The RFE will be implemented gradually as new commands are ported to the framework. The following table will be updated as work progresses.
Command |
– version |
–quiet |
– verbose |
–debug |
–l og-file |
Changed in version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ip a-ldap- updater |
present |
added |
added |
present |
added |
3.1 (e4 37491); 3.2 (5 5cfd06) |
ipa-r eplica- prepare |
present |
added |
added |
present |
added |
3.1 (f6 a5647); 3.2 (2 6c4987) |
i pa-serv er-cert install |
added |
added |
added |
not added (-d means – dirsrv) |
added |
3.3 (02 214c4); 3.4 (0 2be7ac) |
ipa-a dtrust- install |
present |
present |
||||
ipa-ca- install |
present |
present |
||||
ipa-cl ient-au tomount |
present (no -d) |
|||||
ipa- client- install |
present |
present |
||||
ipa -compat -manage |
present |
|||||
ipa-cs replica -manage |
present |
present |
||||
i pa-dns- install |
present |
present |
||||
ipa-ge tkeytab |
present |
|||||
i pa-join |
present |
present |
||||
ipa-m anaged- entries |
present |
|||||
ipa-nis -manage |
present |
|||||
ipa-rep lica-co nncheck |
present |
present |
present |
|||
ipa-r eplica- install |
present |
present |
||||
ipa- replica -manage |
present |
present |
||||
ipa-r mkeytab |
present |
|||||
ipa- server- install |
present |
present |
||||
ipa -upgrad econfig |
present |
present |
present |
|||
ipactl |
present |