Update Checker

Logly-Zig includes a built-in update checker that runs on startup to notify you of new releases.

When the Logger is initialized, it performs a non-blocking check for updates:

1. Thread Pool Integration: If a ThreadPool is configured, it submits the check as a background task.
2. Fallback Threading: If no thread pool is available, it spawns a dedicated lightweight background thread.
3. Version Comparison: It compares the current version (from build.zig.zon) with the latest release from the GitHub API.
4. Silent Results: If an update is available (or if running a nightly build), it prints a non-intrusive notification.
5. Failure Tolerance: It fails silently on network errors or API rate limits.

Configuration

The update checker is enabled by default. You can disable it in the configuration:

var config = logly.Config.default();
config.check_for_updates = false; // Disable update check

const logger = try logly.Logger.initWithConfig(allocator, config);

Project-Wide Disable

For production applications, you may want to disable update checking entirely across your project. Use the setEnabled() function at the start of your application:

const logly = @import("logly");

pub fn main() !void {
    // Disable update checker for the entire application
    // This must be called BEFORE any logger initialization
    logly.UpdateChecker.setEnabled(false);

    // All subsequent logger initializations will skip update checks
    var logger1 = try logly.Logger.init(allocator);
    defer logger1.deinit();

    var logger2 = try logly.Logger.init(allocator);
    defer logger2.deinit();

    // ... your application code
}

API Reference

Function	Description
setEnabled(enabled: bool)	Enable or disable update checking project-wide
isEnabled() bool	Check if update checking is currently enabled
resetState()	Reset update checker state (for testing only)

Important Notes

• Call Early: setEnabled(false) must be called before any Logger.init() calls to ensure update checks are disabled.
• Process-Wide: Once disabled, update checking remains disabled for the entire process lifetime.
• Thread-Safe: The enable/disable functions are thread-safe and can be called from any thread.

Behavior

• Non-blocking: The check runs in a background thread, so it never slows down your application startup.
• Silent Failure: If there is no internet connection or the GitHub API is unreachable, the checker fails silently without printing errors or affecting your application.
• Cross-Platform: Uses ASCII-safe message formatting compatible with all terminals (PowerShell, cmd, Linux, macOS).
• Single Check: The update check runs only once per process, even if multiple loggers are initialized.

Example Output

Newer version available:

info: [UPDATE] A newer release is available: v0.1.7 (current 0.1.5)

Running a dev/nightly build:

info: [NIGHTLY] Running a dev/nightly build ahead of latest release: current 0.1.7, latest 0.1.5

Use Cases

Production Deployment

const logly = @import("logly");

pub fn main() !void {
    // Always disable in production
    logly.UpdateChecker.setEnabled(false);

    var config = logly.Config.production();
    var logger = try logly.Logger.initWithConfig(allocator, config);
    defer logger.deinit();

    try logger.info("Application started", @src());
}

CI/CD Pipelines

// Disable update checks in automated builds
logly.UpdateChecker.setEnabled(false);

Library Development

If you're building a library that uses Logly internally, you should disable update checks to avoid confusing your users:

// In your library's init function
pub fn initMyLibrary(allocator: std.mem.Allocator) !MyLibrary {
    // Disable Logly update checks - let the application owner decide
    logly.UpdateChecker.setEnabled(false);

    // ... library initialization
}

Platform Support

Works correctly on:

• Windows: PowerShell, Windows Terminal, cmd.exe
• Linux: All standard terminals
• macOS: Terminal, iTerm, and other terminal emulators
• VSCode: Integrated terminal