ducktrace-logger

ducktrace-logger is a duck themed application logging system written in Rust that is configured using environment variables.
It only prints (and saves to ~/.config/duckTrace/) logs at or above $DT_LOG_LEVEL.
It also provides a handy dt_timer for measuring operations.

Installation

Add as a git dependency in your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
ducktrace-logger = { git = "https://github.com/QuackHack-McBlindy/ducktrace-logger" }

Configuration

The logger can be configured via environment variables (preferred) or programmatically.

Environment variables (easiest)

• DT_LOG_LEVEL – set to DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, or CRITICAL (default: INFO)
• DEBUG=1 – enable debug messages even if level is higher
• DT_LOG_PATH – directory for log files (default: ~/.config/duckTrace/)
• DT_LOG_FILE – filename inside that directory (default: unknown-script.log)

Programmatic setup (optional)

If you need to set the log level from code (ignoring env vars), call setup_ducktrace_logging before any logging:

use ducktrace_logger::*;

fn main() {
    // Option 1: Use environment variables (DT_LOG_PATH, DT_LOG_FILE, DT_LOG_LEVEL)
    //dt_setup(None, None);
    // Above is same as:
    dt_info("Skipping setup uses env vars");

    // Option 2: Override only the log file (uses default directory if no path given)
    dt_setup(Some("myapp.log"), None);

    // Option 3: Override only the log level
    dt_setup(None, Some("DEBUG"));

    // Option 4: Override both file and level
    dt_setup(Some("/var/log/myapp.log"), Some("ERROR"));

    dt_debug("This is a quackin' debuggin' message!");
    // Arguments can be passed:
    dt_debug!("Example: {} <-- there", example_id);
    // That works for all log levels
    dt_info!("Example: {} <-- there", example_id);    
    // ...    
}

Basic usage:

use ducktrace_logger::*;

fn main() {
    dt_info("Application started");
    dt_debug("Some debugging message");

    let timer = dt_timer("my operation");
    // ... do work ...
    timer.lap("first phase");
    // ... more work ...
    timer.complete();
}

Error output

use ducktrace_logger::*;

fn main() {
    dt_error("The database connection failed");
}

This will print to stderr:

[🦆📜] [14:35:22] ❌ERROR❌ ⮞ The database connection failed

🦆 duck say ⮞ fuck ❌ The database connection failed

The duck line is only shown for Error and Critical levels – it does not appear for Debug, Info, or Warning. It is also not written to the log file, only to the console.