Add a colorizeObjects option to disable object colorization

[Avaq]

This allows log parsers that can detect JSON at the end of a log line to do so without being thrown off by ANSI colors.

Specifically, we're using Pino + Pino Pretty with Papertrail. Papertrail has this feature where they parse JSON at the end of a line. But their JSON parser fails to do so when that JSON is surrounded by ANSI codes.

I could disable colorization altogether, but Papertrail does nicely present ANSI colored logs in their web-UI, so I don't want to do that.

I've sent the Papertrail devs a message, because I think it'd be nicest if it were solved on their side, but as a plan B, and for the time being, this is the next best solution.

[jsumners]

I'm confused. Why are you sending the output of pino-pretty to a log collector?

[coveralls]

Pull Request Test Coverage Report for Build 4262969590

• 1 of 1 (100.0%) changed or added relevant line in 1 file are covered.
• No unchanged relevant lines lost coverage.
• Overall coverage remained the same at 100.0%

---

Totals
Change from base Build 4204181376:	0.0%
Covered Lines:	409
Relevant Lines:	409

---

💛 - Coveralls

[Avaq]

@jsumners I wish Papertrail would work just as well on JSON logs as it does on formatted logs. But it works much better with formatted logs. As I mentioned, it displays colorized logs output in a web UI. It doesn't have any way to present JSON logs nicely, so you have to send it formatted log output for it to be usable. :confused:

I found the { singleLine: true, colorizeObjects: false }-setup to be the perfect middle ground where we're utilizing all of Papertrail's features maximally.

[Avaq]

We don't need to merge this. I can just use the fork for now and see what comes out of the Papertrail support ticket. Also, I understand that this change doesn't really align with the JSON logger philosophy: Disabling the colors on objects is really just muddying the separation of data and presentation (we're using some part of the presentation as data).

[Avaq]

For reference, here's what the 3 situations look like in Papertrail:

• Colors disabled - JSON gets parsed, but no colors
• Colors enabled - JSON not parsed, but colors
• Colors enabled, but disabled for objects - JSON gets parsed, and colors

And when sending it unformatted JSON logs, it'll just show the whole JSON object printed as shown in the screenshots, without any way for the user to control how it's formatted.

I don't know if this issue is worth solving here. I just opened the PR because I had the code ready, and it might be useful to some folks.

[mcollina]

(Note that you shouldn't really do what you are doing for the optimal production setup)

[mcollina]

@jsumners PTAL

[Avaq]

@jsumners I pushed a version with updated docs. Sorry I missed this earlier.

[Avaq]

I also heard back from Papertrail. They say it'll take a lot to fix on their end, and they proposed that a change to pino-pretty might be the easiest.

[jsumners]

I also heard back from Papertrail. They say it'll take a lot to fix on their end, and they proposed that a change to pino-pretty might be the easiest.

Of course they will put the onus on the open source community. They have zero incentive to improve their product.