From: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com>
To: "Daniel P. Berrangé" <berrange@redhat.com>
Cc: qemu-devel@nongnu.org,
"Philippe Mathieu-Daudé" <philmd@linaro.org>,
"Manos Pitsidianakis" <manos.pitsidianakis@linaro.org>,
"Hanna Reitz" <hreitz@redhat.com>,
"Gerd Hoffmann" <kraxel@redhat.com>,
"Paolo Bonzini" <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
"Christian Schoenebeck" <qemu_oss@crudebyte.com>,
"Dr. David Alan Gilbert" <dave@treblig.org>,
"Marc-André Lureau" <marcandre.lureau@redhat.com>,
devel@lists.libvirt.org, qemu-block@nongnu.org,
qemu-rust@nongnu.org, "Stefan Weil" <sw@weilnetz.de>,
"Kevin Wolf" <kwolf@redhat.com>,
"Richard Henderson" <richard.henderson@linaro.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v5 10/24] util: avoid repeated prefix on incremental qemu_log calls
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:19:13 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <87h5spak7y.fsf@pond.sub.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260108170338.2693853-11-berrange@redhat.com> ("Daniel P. Berrangé"'s message of "Thu, 8 Jan 2026 17:03:24 +0000")
Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com> writes:
> There are three general patterns to QEMU log output
>
> 1. Single complete message calls
>
> qemu_log("Some message\n");
>
> 2. Direct use of fprintf
>
> FILE *f = qemu_log_trylock()
> fprintf(f, "...");
> fprintf(f, "...");
> fprintf(f, "...\n");
> qemu_log_unlock(f)
>
> 3. Mixed use of qemu_log_trylock/qemu_log()
>
> FILE *f = qemu_log_trylock()
> qemu_log("....");
> qemu_log("....");
> qemu_log("....\n");
> qemu_log_unlock(f)
>
> When message prefixes are enabled, the timestamp will be
> unconditionally emitted for all qemu_log() calls. This
> works fine in the 1st case, and has no effect in the 2nd
> case. In the 3rd case, however, we get the timestamp
> printed over & over in each fragment.
>
> One can suggest that pattern (3) is pointless as it is
> functionally identical to (2) but with extra indirection
> and overhead. None the less we have a fair bit of code
> that does this.
>
> The qemu_log() call itself is nothing more than a wrapper
> which does pattern (2) with a single fprintf() call.
>
> One might question whether (2) should include the message
> prefix in the same way that (1), but there are scenarios
> where this could be inappropriate / unhelpful such as the
> CPU register dumps or linux-user strace output.
>
> This patch fixes the problem in pattern (3) by keeping
> track of the call depth of qemu_log_trylock() and then
> only emitting the the prefix when the starting depth
> was zero. In doing this qemu_log_trylock_context() is
> also introduced as a variant of qemu_log_trylock()
> that emits the prefix. Callers doing to batch output
> can thus choose whether a prefix is appropriate or
> not.
I dislike pattern (3), but not nearly enough to chase it out of the tree
myself. Hard to disagree with this patch then :)
> Fixes: 012842c07552 (log: make '-msg timestamp=on' apply to all qemu_log usage)
> Reported-by: Richard Henderson <richard.henderson@linaro.org>
> Signed-off-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
> ---
> include/qemu/log.h | 7 +++++++
> util/log.c | 49 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
> 2 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/include/qemu/log.h b/include/qemu/log.h
> index e9d3c6806b..95f417c2b7 100644
> --- a/include/qemu/log.h
> +++ b/include/qemu/log.h
> @@ -69,6 +69,13 @@ bool qemu_log_separate(void);
> */
> FILE *qemu_log_trylock(void) G_GNUC_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
>
> +/**
> + * As qemu_log_trylock(), but will also print the message
> + * context, if any is configured and this caused the
> + * acquisition of the FILE lock
> + */
> +FILE *qemu_log_trylock_context(void) G_GNUC_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
This is used just once, in qemu_log(). Could be inlined into
qemu_log().
If you prefer to keep it as a function, you could make it static.
I wouldn't guess that this prints from the function name. Dunno,
qemu_log_start_line()? Might want to pair it with a qemu_log_end_line()
then.
Telling function name is less important if it's static.
> +
> /**
> * Releases the lock on the log output, previously
> * acquired by qemu_log_trylock().
> diff --git a/util/log.c b/util/log.c
> index c44d66b5ce..2ce7286f31 100644
> --- a/util/log.c
> +++ b/util/log.c
> @@ -127,13 +127,39 @@ static FILE *qemu_log_trylock_with_err(Error **errp)
Not this patch's fault, but here goes anyway:
static FILE *qemu_log_trylock_with_err(Error **errp)
{
FILE *logfile;
logfile = thread_file;
if (!logfile) {
if (log_per_thread) {
g_autofree char *filename
= g_strdup_printf(global_filename, log_thread_id());
logfile = fopen(filename, "w");
if (!logfile) {
error_setg_errno(errp, errno,
"Error opening logfile %s for thread %d",
filename, log_thread_id());
return NULL;
}
thread_file = logfile;
qemu_log_thread_cleanup_notifier.notify = qemu_log_thread_cleanup;
qemu_thread_atexit_add(&qemu_log_thread_cleanup_notifier);
} else {
rcu_read_lock();
/*
* FIXME: typeof_strip_qual, as used by qatomic_rcu_read,
* does not work with pointers to undefined structures,
* such as we have with struct _IO_FILE and musl libc.
* Since all we want is a read of a pointer, cast to void**,
* which does work with typeof_strip_qual.
*/
logfile = qatomic_rcu_read((void **)&global_file);
if (!logfile) {
rcu_read_unlock();
return NULL;
Fails without setting @errp.
}
}
}
qemu_flockfile(logfile);
> return logfile;
> }
>
> +/*
> + * Zero if there's been no opening qemu_log_trylock call,
> + * indicating the need for message context to be emitted
> + *
> + * Non-zero if we're in the middle of printing a message,
> + * possibly over multiple lines and must skip further
> + * message context
> + */
> +static __thread uint log_depth;
> +
> FILE *qemu_log_trylock(void)
> {
> - return qemu_log_trylock_with_err(NULL);
> + FILE *f = qemu_log_trylock_with_err(NULL);
> + log_depth++;
> + return f;
> +}
> +
> +FILE *qemu_log_trylock_context(void)
> +{
> + FILE *f = qemu_log_trylock();
This can fail, and if it does...
> + if (log_depth == 1 && message_with_timestamp) {
> + g_autofree const char *timestr = NULL;
> + g_autoptr(GDateTime) dt = g_date_time_new_now_utc();
> + timestr = g_date_time_format_iso8601(dt);
> + fprintf(f, "%s ", timestr);
... we crash here.
> + }
> + return f;
> }
>
> void qemu_log_unlock(FILE *logfile)
> {
> + assert(log_depth);
> + log_depth--;
> if (logfile) {
> fflush(logfile);
> qemu_funlockfile(logfile);
> @@ -145,28 +171,9 @@ void qemu_log_unlock(FILE *logfile)
>
> void qemu_log(const char *fmt, ...)
> {
> - FILE *f;
> - g_autofree const char *timestr = NULL;
> -
> - /*
> - * Prepare the timestamp *outside* the logging
> - * lock so it better reflects when the message
> - * was emitted if we are delayed acquiring the
> - * mutex
> - */
> - if (message_with_timestamp) {
> - g_autoptr(GDateTime) dt = g_date_time_new_now_utc();
> - timestr = g_date_time_format_iso8601(dt);
> - }
> -
> - f = qemu_log_trylock();
> + FILE *f = qemu_log_trylock_context();
> if (f) {
> va_list ap;
> -
> - if (timestr) {
> - fprintf(f, "%s ", timestr);
> - }
> -
> va_start(ap, fmt);
> vfprintf(f, fmt, ap);
> va_end(ap);
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-01-13 10:19 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 72+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-01-08 17:03 [PATCH v5 00/24] util: sync error_report & qemu_log output more closely Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 01/24] qemu-options: remove extraneous [] around arg values Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 7:47 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 02/24] include: define constant for early constructor priority Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-09 11:39 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-09 11:46 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-09 12:09 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-13 9:04 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-13 9:32 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-14 11:20 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 03/24] monitor: initialize global data from a constructor Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 04/24] system: unconditionally enable thread naming Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 05/24] util: expose qemu_thread_set_name Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 9:16 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-13 10:41 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-02-10 17:13 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-02-11 5:56 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 06/24] audio: make jackaudio use qemu_thread_set_name Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 07/24] util: set the name for the 'main' thread Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-09 11:45 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-09 11:52 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-09 12:04 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 08/24] util: add API to fetch the current thread name Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-09 11:49 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-09 11:56 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-09 12:11 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-13 9:27 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-13 10:00 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 13:00 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-13 15:49 ` Paolo Bonzini
2026-01-14 11:28 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-14 11:27 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 09/24] util: introduce some API docs for logging APIs Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 9:59 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-13 10:49 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 10:52 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 13:04 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 10/24] util: avoid repeated prefix on incremental qemu_log calls Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 10:19 ` Markus Armbruster [this message]
2026-01-13 11:56 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 11/24] ui/vnc: remove use of error_printf_unless_qmp() Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 13:11 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-13 14:44 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 12/24] monitor: remove redundant error_[v]printf_unless_qmp Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 13/24] monitor: refactor error_vprintf() Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 13:17 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-14 11:34 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-14 12:01 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 14/24] monitor: move error_vprintf back to error-report.c Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 13:38 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-14 12:09 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-14 13:13 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 15/24] monitor: introduce monitor_cur_is_hmp() helper Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-13 14:57 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-14 12:46 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 16/24] util: don't skip error prefixes when QMP is active Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-11 22:25 ` Richard Henderson
2026-01-13 15:19 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-14 12:53 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 17/24] util: fix interleaving of error & trace output Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-11 22:28 ` Richard Henderson
2026-01-14 13:00 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 18/24] util: fix interleaving of error prefixes Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-14 14:00 ` Markus Armbruster
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 19/24] util: introduce common helper for error-report & log code Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 20/24] util: convert error-report & log to message API for timestamp Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 21/24] util: add support for formatting a workload name in messages Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 22/24] util: add support for formatting a program " Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-11 22:31 ` Richard Henderson
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 23/24] util: add support for formatting thread info " Daniel P. Berrangé
2026-01-11 22:32 ` Richard Henderson
2026-01-08 17:03 ` [PATCH v5 24/24] util: add brackets around guest name in message context Daniel P. Berrangé
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