Question

I have run into a problem I have beat my head against the wall. Basically, I’m using this logging setup to log to a file, and it works great! However, I want to use this inside a method I built.. it won’t let me! It says it’s not a defined variable. I’m guessing this is a problem with variable scoping. How can I fix this?

This is my logging setup:

class MultiDelegator
  def initialize(*targets)
    @targets = targets
  end

  def self.delegate(*methods)
    methods.each do |m|
      define_method(m) do |*args|
        @targets.map { |t| t.send(m, *args) }
      end
    end
    self
  end

  class <<self
    alias to new
  end
end

log_file = File.open("/opt/sysnovo/log/server.log", "a")
log = Logger.new MultiDelegator.delegate(:write, :close).to(STDOUT, log_file

This is my method (deletes files):

def cleanup
    log.info "Running cleanup"
    dirs = [ "/opt/sysnovo/tmp", "/opt/sysnovo/data", "/opt/sysnovo/merge" ]
    dirs.each do |dir|
        # Our file count.
        file_count = Dir.glob(File.join("#{dir}", '**', '*')).select { |file| File.file?(file) }.count

        # Log and delete!
        log.info "Removing #{file_count} files in #{dir}"
        FileUtils.rm_rf("#{dir}/.", secure: true)
    end
end

So basically, the log.info INSIDE the method fails with this:

./sysnovo_server.rb:58:in `<main>': undefined local variable or method `log' for main:Object (NameError)

So my QUESTION is this: how can I set up this to work right? Or get the log.info to work inside my method. Or .. am I doing this wrong? I’m new to Ruby so be gentle.

Answer 1

If you want to use the log variable inside your method then you should define it as global variable like this

$log = Logger.new MultiDelegator.delegate(:write, :close).to(STDOUT, log_file)

But I would recommend that you create a Singleton class which handles the logging and use it to log.