writing log files in PHP

davidklonski

Hello

I have written my own logging mechanism that allows me to send debug messages to a local file.
That worked fine on Windows.

I am now moving my application to a Linux environment and would like to know how can I write my code so that it will work seamlessly on both operating system.

Each operating system defines its file structure differently.

Can I check on what operating system I am running and refer the debug message to the appropriate log file?

Or maybe there is a known (not to me) logging system in PHP that I could utilize. That system would generate log files regardless of the operating system it is used on.

regards
David

ZibingsCoder

Not sure if this'll help you or not, but try looking at syslog[/code] in the manual.

davidklonski

I am not talking about error logging but about debug logging.
for example, sending to the log file comments or a database query before it is sent to the database...

maybe I could utilize the error log for that, but I would like to keep them separate.

Also, assuming I know what operating system I am on, how can I make sure I have permission to write to a file?
I want the logs to be generated no matter where the application is deployed. This means that the file structure on which the application resides may be different from one deployment to another. How can I trust that a certain file or file directory will exist?

Ravenous

store it in the root of the document root, the folder your website resides in.. you know that folder will always exist no matter what OS you're runnnig on. So just use relative paths ('path/to/logs/) wherever possible and forego any absolute paths (/home/logs/ or C:\logs).

davidklonski

thanks good idea

davidklonski

how can I set the file that the errors will be sent to?
I know that I can set it in php.ini, but I would like it be set in runtime based on the operating system

Also, do I need to set it just once or at the beginning of every PHP file?
thanks