Troubleshooting Java

5 Making the most of logs: Auditing an app’s behavior

This chapter covers

• Effectively using logs to understand an app’s behavior
• Correctly implementing log capabilities in your app
• Avoiding issues caused by logs

In this chapter, we will discuss using log messages that an app records. The concept of logging didn’t first appear with software. For centuries, people used logs to help them understand past events and processes. People have used logging since writing was invented, and we still use it today. All ships have logbooks. Sailors record decisions (direction, speed increase or decrease, etc.) and given or received orders, along with any encountered event (figure 5.1). If something happens to the onboard equipment, they can use the logbook ...