RFC: logging module message hub and user interfaces

[Richard Jones]

This is a Request For Comments on my proposed message hub and user interface 
plan at http://mechanicalcat.net/tech/pylogging/.


Abstract
--------

This document describes a proposed log message hub ("hub") and user interface 
("UI") to complement the logging system described in PEP 282 and implemented
in the python logging system.

The hub and UI would perform the following duties:

- accept messages from the logging module via the logging module's handlers
  (FileHandler, SocketHandler, SyslogHandler, SMTPHandler, NTEventLogHandler,
  SQLHandler)
- redistribution of messages to other targets (just plucking ideas from the
  ether here) ...  all the above Handlers, ElvinHandler, OpenviewHandler,
  SunViewManagerHandler, JabberHandler, SMSHandler
- perform some action on incoming messages, possibly aggregating, dropping or
  forwarding
- have state which would be affected by the actions and may cause new
  messages to be generated (ie. escalation)
- present a display of the messages to a user, either graphically or
  textually (the most basic of these would resemble the UNIX tail -f)

**Note**: it is not the intention of this proposal to implement a monitoring
system like EDDIE. Monitoring of systems is performed by other components
which generate log messages. It is the intention of this proposal to present
those messages to users in meaningful and useful ways.

**Note**: it is not the intention of this proposal to add this functionality
to the core logging implementation of PEP 282. The implementation of this
proposal would form a separate installation of software.



     Richard