SPIP — Logs & Journal

SPIP has two distinct logging entry points:

• spip_log() — writes to rotating text files in tmp/log/; for developer/debug traces
• journal() — event log API; in core it writes to tmp/log/journal.log via spip_log(), and a plugin can override it (via charger_fonction('journal', 'inc')) to store entries in DB and display them

SPIP 5.0

This skill describes SPIP 4.x. Check the version first and name the marker you relied on. A site is 5.0 if any of: ecrire/src/SpipVersion.php declares VERSION = '5.…', bin/spip exists, vendor/spip/framework/ exists, plugins live in plugins-dist/spip/. A plugin targets 5.0 if its paquet.xml compatibilite starts at 5.0 or its composer.json requires spip/framework.

• Code for 5.0 only: spip_log($msg, 'acme.' . _LOG_ERREUR) → Spip::logger('acme')->error($msg) (file tmp/log/acme.log). spip_log() is deprecated in 5.0. Spip is a global alias of Spip\Framework\Spip: no use needed. Inside a class, inject the logger instead.
• spip_logger() is deprecated in 5.0 and absent in 4.4: never use it.
• Gravités become PSR-3 methods (_LOG_INFO_IMPORTANTE → notice(), …).
• The gravité threshold and rotation settings of this skill (_LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE, …) have no effect in 5.0.
• Plugin for 4.4 and 5.0 (compatibilite from 4.x to 5.*): keep spip_log(), the only API in both.

Details: spip-migration-5 (references/catalogue.md: level table, spip.logger.* parameters); injection: spip5-plugins (references/services.md); setting the level per environment on a site: spip5-instance (references/caches-logs.md).

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SPIP-specific terms (always kept in original form)

Term	Meaning
gravité	Severity level of a log entry (_LOG_DEBUG, _LOG_INFO, …)
journal	Site event log; minimal in core (a dedicated log file), extensible by plugins
tmp/log/	Directory that holds rotating .log files written by spip_log()
_LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE	Constant that acts as a threshold: only messages with gravité ≤ this value are written

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Quick reference — spip_log()

spip_log(mixed $message = null, string|int $name = null): void

$name form	Meaning	Example
'type'	Log file prefix, gravité defaults to _LOG_INFO	'monplugin' → tmp/log/monplugin.log
int	Gravité, file defaults to spip.log	_LOG_ERREUR
'type.' . niveau	Both at once	'monplugin.' . _LOG_DEBUG

$message accepts any value — non-strings are dumped with print_r() automatically.

Gravité constants

Constant	Value	Written by default?	Use for
_LOG_HS	0	yes	System down / unrecoverable
_LOG_ALERTE_ROUGE	1	yes	Red alert
_LOG_CRITIQUE	2	yes	Critical error
_LOG_ERREUR	3	yes	Recoverable error
_LOG_AVERTISSEMENT	4	yes	Warning
_LOG_INFO_IMPORTANTE	5	yes	Important info
_LOG_INFO	6	no	Normal info — default gravité of a spip_log() call
_LOG_DEBUG	7	no	Debug trace

Default threshold (_LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE) = _LOG_INFO_IMPORTANTE (5). Messages with a gravité value greater than the threshold are silently discarded — so a plain spip_log($msg, 'monplugin') (gravité _LOG_INFO = 6) writes nothing until the threshold is raised in config/mes_options.php.

Typical usage

// Info — requires _LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE >= _LOG_INFO to be written
spip_log('Plugin activated for id_article=' . $id_article, 'monplugin');

// Important info — written with the default threshold
spip_log('Import finished', 'monplugin.' . _LOG_INFO_IMPORTANTE);

// Warning — something unexpected but non-blocking
spip_log('Empty result from external API', 'monplugin.' . _LOG_AVERTISSEMENT);

// Error — an operation failed
spip_log('sql_insert failed: ' . $msg, 'monplugin.' . _LOG_ERREUR);

// Debug — only written when _LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE >= _LOG_DEBUG
spip_log(['query' => $query, 'result' => $result], 'monplugin.' . _LOG_DEBUG);

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Quick reference — journal()

journal(string $phrase, array $opt = []): void

Records a site event. The core implementation (inc_journal_dist() in ecrire/inc/journal.php) is minimal: it appends the $opt values to the phrase (' :: ' . join(', ', $opt)) and calls spip_log($phrase, 'journal') — so entries land in tmp/log/journal.log. There is no fixed option schema and no DB storage in core; a plugin can override inc_journal (loaded via charger_fonction('journal', 'inc')) to store entries in base and provide display/selection tools.

// Log a content publication event
journal(
    _T('monplugin:log_article_publie', ['titre' => $titre]),
    ['id_article' => $id_article, 'statut' => 'publie']
);

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Decision tree — I want to…

Goal	Read
Write a developer/debug trace	references/spip-log.md
Configure gravité levels and log threshold	references/spip-log.md
Understand log file naming and rotation	references/spip-log.md
Enable _LOG_DEBUG messages in dev	references/spip-log.md
Record a site event with journal()	references/journal.md
Store/display journal entries beyond tmp/log/journal.log	references/journal.md (plugin override)
Debug a plugin with SPIP's native debug tools	references/debug.md
Understand _LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE override	references/spip-log.md

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Workflow index

Instrumenting a plugin with traces

1. references/spip-log.md → choose the right gravité
2. references/spip-log.md → pick a $type name scoped to the plugin (e.g. 'monplugin')
3. references/spip-log.md → enable debug output in dev via _LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE

Recording site events with journal()

1. references/journal.md → call journal() with a phrase and optional context array
2. references/journal.md → read tmp/log/journal.log (or a plugin's storage if inc_journal is overridden)

Debugging a failing pipeline or action

1. references/debug.md → use spip_log() + ?var_mode=debug for request-level traces
2. references/spip-log.md → tail tmp/log/ to read output in real time

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Source of truth

• ecrire/inc/utils.php → spip_log() and journal() entry points
• ecrire/inc/log.php → inc_log_dist(), the actual file writer (naming, rotation, line format)
• ecrire/inc/journal.php → inc_journal_dist(), the core journal implementation
• ecrire/inc_version.php → _LOG_* constants and _LOG_FILTRE_GRAVITE default