Log File

To store the log output of a call to BOMnipotent Client in a file instead of printing it to stdout, call

bomnipotent_client --log-file=/tmp/bomnipotent.log bom list

bomnipotent_client -f /tmp/bomnipotent.log bom list

The output is the same, except that the stdout output is coloured according to its severity level, while the file output is not.

If BOMnipotent Client is called repeatedly with the same log-file, it will overwrite the existing contents, if the existing file looks like a log-file.

A file looks like a log-file to BOMnipotent if it is either empty or contains at least one of the strings “[ERROR]”, “[WARN]”, “[INFO]”, “[DEBUG]” or “[TRACE]”.

If an existing file does not look like a log-file, BOMnipotent gets cautious and aborts:

bomnipotent_client --log-file=/home/george_r_r_martin_not_a.log bom list

bomnipotent_client -f /home/george_r_r_martin_not_a.log bom list

Log-file "/home/george_r_r_martin_not_a.log" already exists and does not look like a log-file. Aborting before overwriting any data you do not want overwritten.

Because the commands “bom get” / “csaf get” as well as the “fetch” command are meant for machine-processing, they print their output to stdout even if a log-file is configured. This separation of outputs makes it possible to simultaneously process the data and store potential error messages.