Log writer classes are used through the Hoodoo::Logger class.

Subclass SlowWriter if you are writing a log data output mechanism which does not respond very quickly. File output might fall into this category depending upon target deployment infrastructure; exporting logs to a remote logging service over the network would certainly qualify.

The subclass only needs to implement Hoodoo::Logger::WriterMixin#report.

If a slow writer cannot keep up with a high rate of log messages, some may be dropped. A :warn level message is reported automatically for such cases, describing the number of dropped messages, once the slow writer has caught up.

IMPORTANT: If you use ActiveRecord in a slow writer class, beware that your writer runs in a ruby Thread. Unless you take steps to prevent it, ActiveRecord will implicitly check out a connection which stays with your Thread forever. This steals a connection from the pool. To prevent this issue, you must use the following pattern:

def report( log_level, component, code, data )
  ActiveRecord::Base.connection_pool.with_connection do
    # ...Any AciveRecord code goes here...
  end
end

Code within the with_connection block uses a temporary connection from the pool which is returned once the block has finished processing. Even if exceptions occur within your ActiveRecord code, the connection is still correctly returned to the pool using the above approach.

Included Modules