libInk - A simple and thread-safe logger

libInk is a simple and thread-safe logger for C++ applications. It uses a lock-free queue structure to manage the logs. Multiple producer threads can add log messages to this queue by calling the log method, while a single consumer thread dequeues these logs and writes them to the log file.

Building and installing libInk

To build libInk just type: make

To build a development version of libInk with support for debugging symbols type: make dev

To build only the tests type: make tests

To install the libInk library, run the following as root: make install

Removing libInk

To remove the libInk library type as root: make remove

Testing libInk

We have included several tests which check whether the libInk library works correctly. Check the tests folder for details.

Using libInk

To use the libInk library you need to include #include <libink/libink.h into your C++ source file. Then, you can build your application as follows:

$(CC) -o application_binary application.cc -link

Use the Logger class to create a logger object and log important information about your application. First call the class constructor and set the maximum logging level, the filename of the output file where the log information will be written, and a header message:

ink::Logger logger;
logger.set_level(LEVEL_WARNING);
logger.set_header("App name");
logger.set_log_file("/var/log/app/app.log");

Then call the start method to initialize the logger and start its worker thread:

logger.start();

Each time that you want to log something call the log method by passing an integer that represents the level and the message. You can also use one of the predefined macros ERROR(m), WARN(m), INFO(m), DEBUG(m), and TRACE(m). However, feel free to use your own levels:

logger.log(0, "message1");
logger.ERROR("message2");

Finally, call the stop method to stop the logger:

logger.stop();

Development and Contributing

The initial developer of libInk is Giorgos Kappes. Feel free to contribute to the development of libInk by cloning the repository: git clone https://github.com/geokapp/libInk. You can also send feedback, new feature requests, and bug reports to geokapp@gmail.com.