Adjusting nodes logging level

[gitoabdelgawad]

Often, it is necessary to adjust the log level to DEBUG for more detailed logging or reduce it to WARN or ERROR to minimize output. According to the ROS2 and Autoware documentation, there is currently no method to configure the logger via a configuration file or environment variable. The only way to change a node's logger at runtime is by using services or by changing the logger level ( --log-level) argument through launch files which will require a big change and it will be hard to maintain.
This aims to initiate a discussion to explore if there are better solutions for adjusting the logging level. Additionally, Is there a consideration for new feature that would dynamically adjust ROS2 logger output.

[mitsudome-r]

@gitoabdelgawad
Thanks for raising this.

I have few questions to you regarding this topic:

1. At what granularity would like to configure the log-level? Would you like to modify the all Autoware nodes at once, or would like to specify different logger level node-by-node? In my opinion, it would be nice if we can set the default logger level for overall ROS system (e.g., by environment variable) and if users can overwrite that default logger level node-by-node (e.g., by parameter file). Do you have any other use case that you are thinking of?
2. Have you taken a look into any ROS 2 community? I think this feature request is not only Autoware specific, but worth discussing within ROS 2 community. Have you searched for any discussion in the past? I found this issue after a quick search, but I would like to know if you found any other discussions similar to this topic.

[gitoabdelgawad]

@mitsudome-r
Thanks for the reply.
answering your questions:

1. I agree with your opinion and that what I was looking for an environment variable for setting log level or would have been even better if its configurable via a parameter file.
2. Yes, I had quick look on a couple of issues I think this issue discuss the missing features in the logger including whats mentioned in (1). It seems that no one had time to start working on this.

[zulfaqar-azmi-t4]

@gitoabdelgawad

Just some confirmation, we have this tools over here that can be use to toggle at least to DEBUG level. So may I know is this what you're looking for?

[gitoabdelgawad]

Thanks for your reply, its definitely useful. I was more seeking an environment variable or if its configurable via a parameter file.