Allow custom formats for the Access logs; like JSON.

[robertmassaioli]

I have been reading through the code and I am pretty sure that I need to override the logA method in order to get custom logging support. I asked a question on SO about it just in case.

But I don't think that I can currently override this logA functionality without changing the code inside of Snap Server. If this is correct then, for this issue, it would be great if I could inject a method into the snap server configuration that would intercept the access log generation and let me write my own access log lines in a custom format.

[gregorycollins]

Correct, although you can retarget the logs (see setAccessLog), currently we only log in combined format and this is not configurable.

[robertmassaioli]

Thank you, this is good to know. Is it a feature that you would be interested in having? Aka, if somebody wrote a pull request for this would the Snap team accept it?

[gregorycollins]

Yes. The broader issue of how you configure the HTTP server, though, is something that I want to make extensive changes to for 1.0, so I would worry that a patch against the current implementation would be wasted work. In the new server you will maybe just provide an OutputStream LogEntry to the server for the error logging.

[robertmassaioli]

Okay, cool, In that case I might wait for the release of Snap 1.0. However, how far away is that? Is there a page (or something) that I could follow to track when 1.0 was released?

[robertmassaioli]

@gregorycollins I'm currently working on this code in a branch because I really really want and need this functionality because it would allow me to output all of my logs in JSON format. If I were to write this code such that it could be merged into both 0.9-stable and master would you accept both PR's?

You can see my initial attempts here: 0.9-stable...robertmassaioli:issue/62-custom-access-and-error-log-handlers

[robertmassaioli]

Please have a look at my initial attempts and let me know if I am going in the right direction. I'd like feedback now before I spin my wheels too fast in one direction. 😃

[robertmassaioli]

I have tested this branch against my Snap application My Reminders and it is working:

So my branch seems to be workable to accomplish the goal of logging your access and error logs in a custom format.

You can see an example of me using this branch in the My Reminders code here: https://bitbucket.org/atlassianlabs/my-reminders/branch/issue/MR-7-json-logs-for-my-reminders#diff

[robertmassaioli]

Ping. These PR's have been open for a week now without comment. Sorry that I'm pinging so soon but:

1. I suspect that there may still be more work to do on these PR's; especially if you want me to use the OutputStream code.
2. The sooner this code gets released the sooner that I can hookup better Logstash / Kibana logging to my services. Which I think they desperately need.

Cheers and sorry if I'm commenting too frequently! Just tell me to stop. 😄 I won't mind!

[gregorycollins]

Ping. These PR's have been open for a week now without comment.

I was on vacation all last week and didn't get to it on the weekend because I have a houseguest. I'll take a look today.

[robertmassaioli]

Wow, I am such a pest. I am really sorry. Thank you so much for looking at this so soon. In my defence I guess I'm just excited about submitting changes back to snap.

[gregorycollins]

Thank you so much for looking at this so soon. In my defence I guess I'm just excited about submitting changes back to snap.

Believe me, I'm quite happy you sent the patches :)

[robertmassaioli]

@gregorycollins What do you think about this snippet for the release logs:

In the latest release of snap-server we include two new configuration options aimed at letting you
control your log file output format. The two functions are setAccessLogHandler and
setErrorLogHandler. These methods respectively will let you control how the access and error log
lines are rendered respectively. This is useful if you wist to modify the log line output; for
example, if you wish to log in a custom data format (like JSON) then now you can. For more information please read the docs.

What do you think? I was trying for short and to the point.