Simple logging overlay for Arcalot

This is a very simple API abstracting away other logging libraries, such as Go log and the Go test logger. You can use it by running:

go get go.arcalot.io/log

Why create a custom logging library?

Why create a custom logging library, when there are a ton of them already out there?

The answer is simple: to create a clean API we can rely on. Even the log and testing packages in Go don't implement a common API for logging, not to mention the myriad libraries out there. We don't proscribe what library an application should use, but we do wish to standardize how we communicate with these libraries.

Should I use this library for my project?

You can! However, keep in mind, this library is intended for Arcalot, and especially the Arcaflow use case. Features that are not needed here will not be added.

You can always use this library on an as-is basis if you are happy with the feature set and we won't be breaking backwards compatibility in minor versions, but if we need a major change, we may move on from the current API in the next major version.

Using the logger

The easiest way to create a logger is to use the Config struct:

package yourapplication

import "go.arcalot.io/log"

func main() {
    logConfig := log.Config{
        Level: log.LevelInfo,
        Destination: log.DestinationStdout,
        Stdout: os.Stdout,
    }
    logger := log.New(logConfig)
    logger.Infof("Hello world!")
}

You should now see a log message on your console. If you wish to log from a test utility, you can do so like this:

package yourapplication_test

import "go.arcalot.io/log"

func TestSomething(t *testing.T) {
    logConfig := log.Config{
        Level: log.LevelInfo,
        Destination: log.DestinationTest,
        T: t,
    }
    logger := log.New(logConfig)
    logger.Infof("Hello world!")
}

You can also apply labels to the log messages. This will add metadata to your log messages. Extending the previous example:

package yourapplication_test

import "go.arcalot.io/log"

func TestSomething(t *testing.T) {
    logConfig := log.Config{
        Level: log.LevelInfo,
        Destination: log.DestinationTest,
        T: t,
    }
    logger := log.New(logConfig)
    logger = logger.WithLabel("source", "mytest")
    logger.Infof("Hello world!")
}

For a more detailed explanation please see our documentation.