change default log level to WARNING

The default foot output looks like this, in Debian testing "bookworm"
at the time of writing:

    anarcat@angela:pubpaste$ foot true
    info: main.c:421: version: 1.13.1 +pgo +ime +graphemes -assertions
    info: main.c:428: arch: Linux x86_64/64-bit
    info: main.c:440: locale: fr_CA.UTF-8
    info: config.c:3003: loading configuration from /home/anarcat/.config/foot/foot.ini
    info: fcft.c:338: fcft: 3.1.5 +graphemes -runs +svg(nanosvg) -assertions
    info: fcft.c:377: fontconfig: 2.13.1, freetype: 2.12.1, harfbuzz: 5.2.0
    info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Regular.otf: size=8.00pt/8px, dpi=75.00
    info: wayland.c:1353: eDP-1: 2256x1504+0x0@60Hz 0x095F 13.32" scale=2 PPI=205x214 (physical) PPI=136x143 (logical), DPI=271.31
    info: wayland.c:1509: requesting SSD decorations
    info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Bold.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
    info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Regular.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
    info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Bold.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
    info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Regular.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
    info: terminal.c:700: cell width=19, height=39
    info: terminal.c:588: using 16 rendering threads
    info: wayland.c:859: using SSD decorations
    info: main.c:680: goodbye
    anarcat@angela:pubpaste$

That's 17 lines of output that are *mostly* useless for most use
cases. I might understand having this output during the project's
startup, when it's helpful for diagnostics, but now Foot just mostly
works everywhere, and I've never had a use for any of that stuff in
the (arguably short) time I've been using Foot so far.

And if I do, there's the `--log-level` commandline option to tweak
this. At first, I looked at tweaking the log level through the config
file. But as explained in this issue:

https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot/issues/1142

... there's a chicken and egg problem there that makes it hard to
implement and possibly confusing for users as well.

There's also the possibility for users to change the shortcut with
which they start foot, for example a `.desktop` file so that menu
systems that support those start foot properly. But that only works in
that environment, and not through the so many things that will just
call `foot` and hope it will do the right thing.

In my case, I have `foot` hardcoded in a lot of places now, between
sway and waybar, and this is only going to grow. Others have suggested
adding the flag to a $TERMINAL global variable, but that won't help
.desktop users.

So, instead of playing whack-a-mole with the log levels, just make it
so that, by default, foot is silent. This is actually one of the
[basics of UNIX philosophy][1]:

> Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it
> should say nothing.

And yes, I am aware I am severely violating that principle by writing
a way too long commit log for a one-line patch, but there you go, I
figured it was good to document the why of this properly.

[1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20031102053334/http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s06.html
This commit is contained in:
Antoine Beaupré 2022-11-18 11:07:16 -05:00
parent 4d2b8a993f
commit b80c7f75fe
No known key found for this signature in database
GPG key ID: 3EA1DDDDB261D97B
8 changed files with 11 additions and 9 deletions

4
main.c
View file

@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ print_usage(const char *prog_name)
" Without PATH, $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/foot-$WAYLAND_DISPLAY.sock will be used.\n"
" -H,--hold remain open after child process exits\n"
" -p,--print-pid=FILE|FD print PID to file or FD (only applicable in server mode)\n"
" -d,--log-level={info|warning|error|none} log level (info)\n"
" -d,--log-level={info|warning|error|none} log level (warning)\n"
" -l,--log-colorize=[{never|always|auto}] enable/disable colorization of log output on stderr\n"
" -s,--log-no-syslog disable syslog logging (only applicable in server mode)\n"
" -v,--version show the version number and quit\n"
@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ main(int argc, char *const *argv)
bool fullscreen = false;
bool unlink_pid_file = false;
const char *pid_file = NULL;
enum log_class log_level = LOG_CLASS_INFO;
enum log_class log_level = LOG_CLASS_WARNING;
enum log_colorize log_colorize = LOG_COLORIZE_AUTO;
bool log_syslog = true;
user_notifications_t user_notifications = tll_init();