Re: [ft-devel] Logging library proposal

[armin]

> There's a simple rule: don't try to fix something that is not broken.

I 100% agree.  However, as Werner and I have pointed out earlier, there are
a few issues with the current implementation of the logger.  At least, there
are things that could clearly be improved.

> Another consideration would be to leave the decision to people who
actually
> works with Freetype code, and who is used to work with existing code base.

My word might not mean that much to you as I'm not actively developing FT
features but I'm rather on bug hunting missions (and only joined recently).
However, also Werner addressed different issues.

When it comes to choosing a logger, this will (of course) not be done
blindly and/or "behind the scenes".  As you can imagine, the hardest part
will be to convince Werner of accepting the new thing ;)  Apart from that I
can only imagine that it will be addressed in the mailing list as well so
everyone is free to offer their thoughts.

> Also, obviously there is no point in inventing new dependencies for such a
> simple thing as logging.

This is probably where I disagree the most.  Logging/tracing in itself is
far more than "a simply thing";  it is a tremendous debugging tool (when
done right).  Instructions that are (1) dead easy to insert and (2) generate
output that is spot-on for whatever you're looking for in any specific
situation can make the difference between firing up `gdb' or finding an
issue within a few seconds.  The current logger is great, but there are far
better solutions out there.

> IMHO if something is going to be changed or improved this shouldn't be an
> external library,

I will leave it at that ...

> and new things should be left compatible with existing ways of usage.

... and I strongly agree with that!  That should totally be worked into a
the possible overhaul!

Armin