There are many tools available that will allow a programmer to create log entries. I originally worked with log4j, but have recently been working with logback. I am also working with Jython and am looking at Python’s logging framework. Used well they can make log analysis simple and provide a rich tool for resolving issues. Used poorly they can generate a mass of relatively useless information.

While these loggers have a good hierarchy of levels, the documentation tends to be lacking in guidance on when to use which level. The following document contains the recommendations I have gathered over the years.

(more…)