BareTail Logger

I have used the SOSMax trace logger ever since I started using FDT back in version 1. I really liked it because it was simple, easy to use, and fast. I have tried using some other loggers such as MonsterDebugger. I think that tools such as Monster are very useful, but for simple logging I don't like having to jump through some hoops. Most of the time I just want to see my debug messages.....quick and simple, that's all.

I recently ran across BareTail. This is a pretty sweet little logger. One of the things that stuck out to me was the configurable highlighting feature. With BareTail I don't have to use a specific logging class and trigger error or warn methods to see the different color messages. BareTail allows me to easily specify how to highlight logs based on the content of the log. So if the log has the word "error" in it, highlight as red. That is awesome. Now I can have color highlighted log messages without giving up my beloved trace function.

You can get a free version which shows a splash screen at the start up or pay $25 for registered version. The pro version has some more sweet features. It has some search capabilities which are pretty awesome. I think it's well worth the extra $10.

There is one thing I don't like about BareTail. You cannot easily clear out the trace logs. In SOS Max for example, hitting the Delete button would clear all trace logs. In BareTail there is no easy way to clear them. You have to edit the flashlog.txt file itself in a text editor, delete the contents of the file, and save the file. That's a lot of hassle for something that should be very easy.