[PD-dev] unifying loglevels

IOhannes m zmoelnig zmoelnig at iem.at
Tue Aug 24 15:59:34 CEST 2021


TL;DR i'd like to propose to unify the loglevels as used by verbose() 
and logpost()


for unknown reasons, the values accepted by verbose() and logpost() have 
an offset.

the current loglevels are like this:

logpost(x, 0,...) -> CRITICAL
logpost(x, 1,...) -> ERROR
logpost(x, 2,...) -> NORMAL
logpost(x, 3,...) -> DEBUG
logpost(x, 4,...) -> extra VERBOSE

verbose(-3,...) -> CRITICAL
verbose(-2,...) -> ERROR
verbose(-1,...) -> NORMAL
verbose(0,...) -> DEBUG
verbose(1,...) -> extra VERBOSE

for Pd-0.52, christof has created an enum to use labels that are easier 
to read and understand (PD_CRITICAL, PD_ERROR, PD_NORMAL, PD_DEBUG, 
PD_VERBOSE).
to add a bit of confusion, this enum is called "t_loglevel" but actually 
declares values that are usable by verbose() rather than logpost()

i would like to have both logpost() and verbose() use the same values 
(which should be aliased via the "t_loglevel" enum).


unfortunately, both methods are used by (a few) externals, so unifying 
the levels will change the verbosity of these externals.

my gut feeling tells me, that i would prefer the current behaviour or 
logpost() (with the most severe loglevel starting at 0, rather than some 
negative value).
alternatively, i think that a loglevel=0 should be the verbosity of 
[print] (aka NORMAL). however, this would change the verbosity of *all* 
libraries using any of verbose() or loglevel().

to see how bad a change would be, i've tried to check how many externals 
are actually using any of the two functions:

and luckily, there are not that many externals involved.

these results are based on externals i found on my harddisk

* externals using `verbose()`
- zexy: mostly uses verbose(1) to report errors
- iemguts (canvasdelete, autoabstraction): only calls verbose() once!
- triggerize-plugin, doublechord-plugin: uses verbose(10), which is 
"extra verbose" in all scenarios, so can be ignored)
- mediasettings
- hexloader
- Gem
- ggee (shell): uses verbose(4) which is always "extra verbose"
- hcs (folderlist)
- tclpd
- vstplugin~

* externals using `logpost()`
- hcs (ce_path, folder_list, passwd, helppath, classpath, stat, group, 
colorpanel)
- vbap
- iemnet
- iemmatrix: only extra VERBOSE
- maxlib: only extra VERBOSE
- unauthorized: only extra VERBOSE
- libdir: only DEBUG and above
- mrpeach (midifile, tcpclient): only DEBUG
- lua: only DEBUG
- tclpd: only DEBUG
- cyclone: original version uses only extra VERBOSE; porres' version 
doesn't use logpost() at all
- creb
- smlib
- log

i'm sure i missed many libraries, but i checked quite a few.


anyhow:

changing the levels used by verbose() to be "0"-based will make 
externals (that use verbose()) more chatty.
however, afaict, Gem and vstplugin~ are the only libraries in wide use 
where this might actually become an issue. and i guess "vstplugin~" is 
being actively enough developed to fix the problem by just pushing out a 
new version.

otoh, changing the levels used by logpost() to be "-3"-based will make 
externals (that use logpost()) less chatty.
in general this shouldn't be a big deal (as people can always raise the 
verbosity to see these messages).
in particular, many libraries using logpost() are very quiet anyhow 
(using DEBUG or extra VERBOSE), so there won't be that much change.


what do you think?


fdasr
IOhannes

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