NAME

       Net::Daemon::Log - Utility functions for logging

SYNOPSIS

         # Choose logging method: syslog or Win32::EventLog
         $self->{'facility'} = 'mail'; # Default: Daemon
         $self->{'logfile'} = undef;   # Default

         # Choose logging method: stderr
         $self->{'logfile'} = 1;

         # Choose logging method: IO handle
         my $file = IO::File->new("my.log", "a");
         $self->{'logfile'} = $file;

         # Debugging messages (equivalent):
         $self->Log('debug', "This is a debugging message");
         $self->Debug("This is a debugging message");

         # Error messages (equivalent):
         $self->Log('err', "This is an error message");
         $self->Error("This is an error message");

         # Fatal error messages (implies 'die')
         $self->Fatal("This is a fatal error message");

WARNING

       THIS IS ALPHA SOFTWARE. It is *only* 'Alpha' because the interface (API) is not finalised.
       The Alpha status does not reflect code quality or stability.

DESCRIPTION

       Net::Daemon::Log is a utility class for portable logging messages.  By default it uses
       syslog (Unix) or Win32::EventLog (Windows), but logging messages can also be redirected to
       stderr or a log file.

   Generic Logging
           $self->Log($level, $msg, @args);

       This is the generic interface. The logging level is in syslog style, thus one of the words
       'debug', 'info', 'notice', 'err' or 'crit'.  You'll rarely need info and notice and I can
       hardly imagine a reason for crit (critical). In 95% of all cases debug and err will be
       sufficient.

       The logging string $msg is a format string similar to printf.

   Utility methods
           $self->Debug($msg, @args);
           $self->Error($msg, @args);
           $self->Fatal($msg, @args);

       These are replacements for logging with levels debug and err. The difference between the
       latter two is that Fatal includes throwing a Perl exception.

   Chossing a logging target
       By default logging will happen to syslog (Unix) or EventLog (Windows).  However you may
       choose logging to stderr by setting

           $self->{'logfile'} = 1;

       This is required if neither of syslog and EventLog is available. An alternative option is
       setting

           $self->{'logfile'} = $handle;

       where $handle is any object supporting a print method, for example an IO::Handle object.
       Usually the logging target is choosen as soon as you call $self->Log() the first time.
       However, you may force choosing the target by doing a

           $self->OpenLog();

       before calling Log the first time.

MULTITHREADING

       The Multithreading capabitities of this class are depending heavily on the underlying
       classes Sys::Syslog, Win32::EventLog or IO::Handle.  If they are thread safe, you can well
       assume that this package is too. (The exception being that you should better call
       $self->OpenLog() before threading.)

AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT

         Net::Daemon is Copyright (C) 1998, Jochen Wiedmann
                                            Am Eisteich 9
                                            72555 Metzingen
                                            Germany

                                            Phone: +49 7123 14887
                                            Email: joe@ispsoft.de

         All rights reserved.

         You may distribute this package under the terms of either the GNU
         General Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the
         Perl README file.

SEE ALSO

       Net::Daemon(3), Sys::Syslog(3), Win32::EventLog(3), IO::Handle(3)