clog: A Lightweight, Thread-Safe Logging Library for C

clog is a simple, thread-safe logging library for C that supports multiple log levels (INFO, WARN, ERROR, DEBUG) and customizable output formatting. It can be used in both single-threaded and multi-threaded applications to provide detailed, context-rich logging.

Features

• Thread-safe logging with pthread_mutex
• Support for multiple log levels:
  • INFO: Informational messages
  • WARN: Warnings that may indicate potential problems
  • ERR: Error messages that indicate failures
  • DBG: Debugging messages for development
• Contextual information included in logs (file, line number, function)
• ANSI color-coded log output for enhanced readability
• Customizable error messages or automatic integration with errno for error handling
• Extensive documentation and examples

Getting Started

Requirements

• GCC or Clang compiler
• POSIX-compatible system (for pthread and errno)

Installation

Clone the repository to your local system:

git clone https://github.com/0xA1M/clog
cd clog

Usage

You can include the logging library in your project by including the clog.h file:

#include "clog.h"

To log messages with varying severity levels, use the LOG macro:

LOG(INFO, NULL, "This is an informational message.");
LOG(WARN, NULL, "This is a warning.");
LOG(ERR, "Custom error message", "This is an error.");
LOG(DBG, NULL, "Debugging message: variable value is %d", some_variable);

Example

#include "clog.h"

int main() {
    LOG(INFO, NULL, "This is an informational message.");
    LOG(WARN, NULL, "This is a warning.");
    LOG(ERR, NULL, "This is an error with errno: %s", strerror(errno));
    LOG(DBG, NULL, "Debug message: %d", 42);

    return 0;
}

Compile and run your program:

gcc -pthread -o my_program my_program.c src/clog.c
./my_program

Documentation

An extensive documentation of the clog library is available in the docs/ folder. The documentation includes:

• Detailed descriptions of the library's features
• How the logging system works
• Function reference
• Examples and use cases

Accessing the Documentation

You can explore the documentation locally by navigating to the docs/ folder, or view it online if available.

cd docs/

Running Tests

The clog library comes with a set of unit tests to ensure its core functionality and thread safety. These tests are located in the tests/ folder and cover:

• Basic logging
• Error handling (with and without custom messages)
• Thread safety in multi-threaded environments

Running the Test Suite

1. Ensure you have the test dependencies installed.
2. Run the tests using the Makefile.

make test

This will compile and execute all test cases, verifying that the clog functions as expected.

Test Structure

• Tests are located in the tests/ folder.
• The Makefile will compile the tests and place executables in the build/ directory.
• Each test executable is run to validate different aspects of the library.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to contribute, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b my-feature-branch).
3. Make your changes.
4. Commit your changes (git commit -m "Add some feature").
5. Push to the branch (git push origin my-feature-branch).
6. Open a pull request.

Future Improvements (TODO)

The library can be extended with additional features in future updates:

• Log file output and rotation.
• Configurable log levels (e.g., disable debug logs in production).
• Asynchronous logging to improve performance.
• Support for structured logging formats like JSON.

License

clog is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.