Besu : [ACCEPTED] DEBUG Log Improvement Proposal

Problem

--logging=DEBUG level is too spammy for end users and either we have to use the ADMIN RPC endpoint to target packages/classes or get them to post full logs which is a barrier and error prone.

Goal

End users can enable --logging=DEBUG and have a chance at spotting an issue or pasting relevant snippets into support channels.


DEBUG Principles

  •  Aimed at both end users and developers
  •  Should lead to resolution of common problems, whilst not spamming
  •  Should not contain logs that take up more than one terminal screen, e.g. raw data, including RLP

DEBUG Guidelines

  • Should not include peer discovery
  • Should not include txpool management
  • Could include some peering to debug peering issues
  • Could include some high level syncing
  • Could include API requests, including potentially truncated data, but not full RLP


TRACE principles

  • Aimed at developers
  • Expectation is everything is there and it's spammy
  • Only useful when targetting certain packages/classes


Actions (if no objections)

  • Submit PR(s) to move logs from DEBUG → TRACE and any other tidy up to follow the proposal
  • Update existing documentation, e.g Coding Conventions and Logging