[HN Gopher] Logging in Ruby: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know
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       Logging in Ruby: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know
        
       Author : thunderbong
       Score  : 34 points
       Date   : 2023-07-30 18:41 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.akshaykhot.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.akshaykhot.com)
        
       | lijok wrote:
       | How can a log level be unknown?
        
         | Nmi2osv7 wrote:
         | possibly the log value was reduced to just a string when it
         | crossed an api boundary or something?
        
         | redgreenshoe wrote:
         | The code has noticed a condition that may or may not be
         | meaningful--it is not explicitly handled or classified. The
         | correct place the message noting this ought to go could well be
         | _unknown_. INFO buries it, which may be very bad. Higher
         | severities might be crying wolf. UNKNOWN starts showing up in
         | the logs, that tells you to go take a closer look, and tells
         | you that _nobody has encoded the severity of the message into
         | the system_.
        
         | software_writer wrote:
         | It could be useful for logging messages that don't fit a
         | particular category, i.e. a catch-all category, to identify
         | patterns over time. Edit: You could also use it to turn-off
         | logging for a while. Since unknown is the highest level, no
         | other logs would be recorded.
        
           | xyproto wrote:
           | Can you give an example of a log message that would not fit
           | typical logging levels? (Info/Debug/Error etc)
        
             | software_writer wrote:
             | I was trying to think of a good example, but the following
             | table from RFC 5424 [1] might be a good starting point. I
             | guess unknown could be used for the top 3 conditions.
             | Numerical         Severity                  Code
             | 0       Emergency: system is unusable                   1
             | Alert: action must be taken immediately                   2
             | Critical: critical conditions                   3
             | Error: error conditions                   4       Warning:
             | warning conditions                   5       Notice: normal
             | but significant condition                   6
             | Informational: informational messages                   7
             | Debug: debug-level messages
             | 
             | [1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5424
        
       | hbroadbent wrote:
       | Great post! Akshay has been super active in the Ruby / Rails
       | communities on Reddit and he's always supportive.
       | 
       | Glad to see one of his posts here on HN.
       | 
       | And frankly stunning to see a Ruby post on the front page!
        
       | javaunsafe2019 wrote:
       | Wow in 2023 someone thinks this is worth a blog post?
       | 
       | At least some log scraping + monitors with graylog, ELK or the
       | like would be the minimum imo...
        
         | software_writer wrote:
         | > Wow in 2023 someone thinks this is worth a blog post?
         | 
         | It was meant to be a beginner-level introduction to logging
         | (especially for those developers who got started in 2023 ;))
        
           | javaunsafe2019 wrote:
           | But you find those things in every basic book or course etc.
           | That are the very basics nowadays.
           | 
           | And I would not call scraping and monitoring advanced topics.
           | 
           | Advanced topics are multi stage image builds, helm charts +
           | deployments and clean architecture. Just to name a few.
        
             | revskill wrote:
             | Dirty architecture is more advanced topic i think.
        
             | pdntspa wrote:
             | In the ridiculous clockwork that is "modern" software
             | deployment, sure.
             | 
             | But what if you're just trying to stand up a rails app on a
             | boring linux droplet?
        
             | suction wrote:
             | [dead]
        
         | kayodelycaon wrote:
         | Everyone starts somewhere. Log scraping and monitoring is a
         | pretty advanced topic for a new developer.
        
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       (page generated 2023-07-30 23:00 UTC)