Configure timestamps in internal logs

[zmitchell]

Feature Request

Use Case:

We currently integrate process-compose with our CLI, and write the internal logs to a file via the -L flag so that we can surface them on request.

Proposed Change:

Allow configuring the timestamps of the internal logs. It looks like there's already a a way to configure other logs via the project-level config, but it doesn't look like there's a way to configure the internal logs.

This is important because a program that integrates with process-compose may want to align all timestamps on UTC, for example, whereas process-compose internal logs only display logs with local timestamps. Being able to configure the timestamps would allow the caller to align process-compose timestamps with other timestamps configured by the caller.

I do think that local time is the best default for the internal logs, but allowing the timestamps to be configurable is a useful feature for us.

Who Benefits From The Change(s)?

• Anyone using logs to debug process-compose
• Anyone using logs to debug correlations between system events and process-compose events

Alternative Approaches

[F1bonacc1]

Hi @zmitchell,

Thanks for the suggestion! This would be a great addition.

To make sure I implement it correctly, could you clarify the scope of what you're looking for?

Feature Scope

Are you envisioning:

1. A simple boolean flag (e.g., --utc-logs) to switch all internal log timestamps to UTC?
2. Or a more flexible option that allows specifying the timestamp format itself (e.g., --log-time-format 'YYYY-MM-DD')?
   Also, are there any other aspects of logging you think should be configurable?

Configuration Method

Regarding how this setting would be enabled, what's your preference? I could potentially support multiple methods:

1. A command-line argument (e.g., --utc-logs)
2. An environment variable (e.g., PC_UTC_LOGS=true)
3. An option in the main configuration file

Let me know what you think! Your feedback will help me move forward.