Axologl

A simple logging library for Nintendo Switch homebrew designed to integrate with libnx and nxlink.

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Table of Contents

• Background
  • Why Axologl?
• Install
• Usage
• Configuration
  • Runtime Configuration
• API
• Thanks
• Contributing
• Licence

Background

Logging can seem fairly trivial in most projects, and it's really no different in a Switch homebrew project. While working on another project, I soon found myself reaching for a simple way to log messages to the console. Rather than implementing a solution directly in that project, I figured why not create a simple library that I can share with the community?

Why Axologl?

Sure, it's an odd name. Honestly, no idea what was going through my head at the time, but I knew the name had to somehow reflect the fact that it was a logging library. While trying to shoehorn in something about libnx or nxlink, Axologl popped in to my head.

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Install

Axologl is a header-only library and as such the include folder can be easily dropped in to any Switch homebrew project based on libnx/devkitPro.

git submodule

Alternatively, you can link it as a submodule in your project with:

git submodule add https://github.com/ixalsera/Axologl <your_dependency_folder>/Axologl

Then don't forget to include it in your Makefile under INCLUDES!

INCLUDES    :=  include <your_dependency_folder>/Axologl/include

CMake

This library also supports CMake, so you can either use it as a submodule or use FetchContent.

CMake will require a toolchain file to provide the build configuration. One is provided in the cmake/toolchain folder. You can use is at follows:

cmake -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=cmake/toolchain/switch.cmake -B build -S .
cmake --build build
cmake --install build --prefix install # Optional, for installation support

Submodule

git submodule add https://github.com/ixalsera/Axologl <your_dependency_folder>/Axologl

Then, in your CMakeLists.txt:

add_subdirectory(<your_dependency_folder>/Axologl)
target_link_libraries(<your_target> PRIVATE axologl::axologl)

FetchContent

include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
    axologl
    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/ixalsera/Axologl.git
    GIT_TAG        main
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(axologl)

Then, in your CMakeLists.txt:

target_link_libraries(<your_target> PRIVATE axologl::axologl)

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Usage

1. Include axologl.h in your main header or source file.
2. Set your configuration options (Optional).
3. Initialize Axologl.
4. Use any of the Axologl logging functions.

// main.cpp
#include <switch.h>
#include <axologl.h>

int main()
{
    consoleInit(NULL);
    const axologl::AxologlOptions options;
    axologl::configure(options);
    
    /*
     * Your amazing homebrew code goes here
     */
    
    axologl::debug("Axologl is great!")
    
    consoleExit(NULL);
    return 0;
}

Check out the test file for a detailed look.

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Configuration

You can configure Axologl by passing in some options when initializing the library, either by creating a full AxologlOptions object or by instantiating a default one and changing whichever options are relevant for you.

Below is the default configuration when instantiating an AxologlOptions struct:

 {
     logLevel = axologl::Warning, // The logging level to use; less urgent messages get discarded
     nxLinkOpts = {
         enabled = false,         // nxlink will not be configured
         redirectStdout = false,  // nxlink will not send stdout (irrelevant if `enable` is false)
         redirectStderr = false   // nxlink will not send stderr (irrelevant if `enable` is false)
     },
     ansiOutput = true,           // ANSI colorization will be enabled
     logPath = ?                  // No log file provided; file logging will be disabled
 };

Thus, changing just the ANSI setting would look something like:

const axologl::AxologlOptions options;
options.ansiOutput = false;

Runtime Configuration

Some options may be altered during runtime:

Option	Function
Enable ANSI	axologl::enableAnsi()
Disable ANSI	axologl::disableAnsi()
Change Log Level	axologl::setLogLevel(LogLevel level)

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API

The following functions are available for logging, with prespecified ANSI colorization (if enabled) and prefixes:

Function	Prefix	Colour
axologl::debug()	[DEBUG]	Purple
axologl::info()	[INFO]	Blue
axologl::notice()	[NOTICE]	Blue
axologl::warn()	[WARN]	Yellow
axologl::error()	[ERROR]	Red
axologl::fatal()	[FATAL]	Red

Additionally, the following functions are available with prespecified ANSI colours (if enabled):

Function	Colour
axologl::success()	Green
axologl::failure()	Red

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Thanks

• The devkitPro team for their amazing suite of tools that have made homebrewing for Nintendo consoles possible
• XorTroll for the great tools they've created whose source code has helped me learn so much

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Contributing

Please report any issues (and I'm sure there will be plenty; this is my first C++ library!) using GitHub Issues.

PRs are welcome (especially if you can teach me something while improving the code!)

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Licence

Axologl is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0. You can find the full licence here.