Logging & diagnostics¶
The editor keeps a log of what it's doing. The log is useful when something goes wrong — you can raise its detail and attach it to a bug report.
Where the log lives¶
A rolling log file is written to your per-user diagnostics folder:
- Windows:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\7-bits\OctoEdit\Diagnostics\log\mte.log - Linux:
~/.local/share/7-bits/OctoEdit/Diagnostics/log/mte.log - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/7-bits/OctoEdit/Diagnostics/log/mte.log
The file rotates as it grows (mte.log, then mte.log.1, mte.log.2, …), so it
never grows without bound. If the editor crashes, the most recent log lines are
included automatically in the crash report.
Changing how much is logged¶
By default the log records informational messages and above. To capture more
detail — for example while reproducing a problem — raise the level to debug or
trace.
-
For a single run, start the editor with a level on the command line:
-
Persistently, set
log/levelin the configuration file (see the Configuration reference for the file's location and all the keys). You can also turn the log file off, change its size, or change the line format there.
Attaching a log to a bug report
Reproduce the problem with --log=debug, then attach the mte.log file
from the folder above. Note that log lines can contain file paths from your
machine; review the file before sharing it.
Debug flags¶
A small set of developer/diagnostics switches can be enabled in the
configuration file's [debug] section — for example to log every file-change
signal, or the time plugins take to load. They never appear in Preferences. To
see the recognised flags and their current values:
More detail¶
The full list of logging keys, debug flags, command-line options and environment
variables is in the project's CONFIGURATION.md reference.