00-logging-and-asserting

See also

examples/00-logging-and-asserting/main.cpp

The irsol library comes packed with a flexible logging and assertion framework designed to help you build robust applications with clear diagnostics and fail-safe conditions.

Initialization

Both the logging and assertion subsystems must be initialized by the user at application startup before any logging or assertions are used:

#include "irsol/logging.hpp"
#include "irsol/assert.hpp"
 
int main()
{
    // Initialize logging system
    irsol::initLogging("logs/app.log");
 
    // Initialize assertion handler
    irsol::initAssertHandler();
 
    // Your application code here...
}

• initLogging() configures logging sinks, file outputs, and runtime logging level.
• initAssertHandler() sets up the assertion failure callback behavior.

Logging Levels and Configuration

See also

irsol/logging.hpp

Runtime Logging Level Setup

You can control the logging verbosity at runtime by passing the desired level to initLogging():

irsol::initLogging("logs/app.log", spdlog::level::debug);

This determines which log messages are emitted during execution. In the above example, ony log levels higher than debug are emitted (trace logs are ignored).

Compile-Time Logging Level (SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL)

To optimize your binary and exclude logs below a certain level at compile time, define the macro (which needs to be set prior to importing <spdlog/spdlog>):

#define SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL 2  // or any other level you want

This controls which logging macros (e.g., IRSOL_LOG_DEBUG, IRSOL_LOG_INFO) generate any code at all, reducing runtime overhead.

‍Of course, if a log-level is configured to be ignored at compile time, setting a runtime level lower than the compile time level will not have any effect.

By default, the compile-time logging level for building executables in Release and Debug mode are the following:

• Debug: trace. All log levels are considered at compile time
• Release: info. Logs with a lower level are ignored at compilation time

Named Loggers Usage

The system supports named loggers for modular logging scopes:

IRSOL_NAMED_LOG_INFO("this-logger-name", "Log message");

• Use named loggers to separate logs from different components or libraries.
• Named loggers inherit the global sinks and levels configured during initialization.
• This allows you to filter or format logs based on source module if needed.

Logger Sinks

The logging system configures multiple sinks by default:

• Console Sink — outputs logs to the terminal/stdout.
• File Sink — writes logs to a rotating file (e.g., logs/app.log).

These sinks receive all logs (both from global and named loggers), so logs appear both in console and files simultaneously. Different sinks are configured to have a different runtime log level by default:

Compilation mode	Debug	Release
Console logger	trace	info
File logger	trace	info

Assertion Levels: Usage and Behavior

See also

irsol/assert.hpp

Disabling Assertions Globally

You can disable all assertions globally at compile time by defining the macro:

#define IRSOL_DISABLE_ASSERT

When IRSOL_DISABLE_ASSERT is defined:

• All assertions are disabled regardless of their level.
• Assertions generate no code and produce no runtime overhead.
• Use this option only in production builds where performance is critical and assertions are not needed.