Add more useful debug logging #613

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opened 2026-02-06 19:53:39 +03:00 by OVERLORD · 3 comments
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Originally created by @joshuaboniface on GitHub (Apr 21, 2019).

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
N/A

Describe the solution you'd like
Jellyfin debug logs are next to useless in a lot of places, because not very much aside from HTTP logs are logged to the debug filter. I'd like to see a LOT more LogDebug statements everywhere in the code, providing more information about what functions and events are actually occurring in the backend code and hence making debugging problems easier.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Hacking these in and rebuilding to test things. It's a huge waste of time.

Additional context
I'm not worried about verbosity, debug logs should be very verbose. I think without these the debug logs are close to useless for debugging actual code issues since few functions log what they're actually doing. Debug log statements are also super useful for greping through the code to find where things are happening, since variable names and such are inconsistent between components.

We could also maybe turn down the debugging output of the HTTP server, since it tends to spew out a lot of logs that are only somewhat helpful.

For an idea of what I mean, see the 4 LogDebug statements in https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plugin-ldapauth/blob/master/LDAP-Auth/LDAPAuthenticationProviderPlugin.cs When enabled, they show in the logs what stages of the authentication the code is at, thus revealing where failures are occurring to within a couple dozen LoC.

Originally created by @joshuaboniface on GitHub (Apr 21, 2019). **Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.** N/A **Describe the solution you'd like** Jellyfin debug logs are next to useless in a lot of places, because not very much aside from HTTP logs are logged to the debug filter. I'd like to see a LOT more `LogDebug` statements everywhere in the code, providing more information about what functions and events are actually occurring in the backend code and hence making debugging problems easier. **Describe alternatives you've considered** Hacking these in and rebuilding to test things. It's a huge waste of time. **Additional context** I'm not worried about verbosity, debug logs *should* be very verbose. I think without these the debug logs are close to useless for debugging actual code issues since few functions log what they're actually doing. Debug log statements are also *super* useful for `grep`ing through the code to find where things are happening, since variable names and such are inconsistent between components. We could also maybe turn *down* the debugging output of the HTTP server, since it tends to spew out a lot of logs that are only somewhat helpful. For an idea of what I mean, see the 4 `LogDebug` statements in https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plugin-ldapauth/blob/master/LDAP-Auth/LDAPAuthenticationProviderPlugin.cs When enabled, they show in the logs what stages of the authentication the code is at, thus revealing where failures are occurring to within a couple dozen LoC.
OVERLORD added the enhancement label 2026-02-06 19:53:39 +03:00
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@oddstr13 commented on GitHub (Apr 21, 2019):

It may be worth considering a separate log file for the http server?

@oddstr13 commented on GitHub (Apr 21, 2019): It may be worth considering a separate log file for the http server?
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@joshuaboniface commented on GitHub (Apr 21, 2019):

That is a very good idea, especially since it's a real HTTP server now. They could even be managed entirely separately form the main "debug" logs, i.e. a different section in logging.json.

@joshuaboniface commented on GitHub (Apr 21, 2019): That is a very good idea, especially since it's a real HTTP server now. They could even be managed entirely separately form the main "debug" logs, i.e. a different section in `logging.json`.
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@jellyfin-bot commented on GitHub (Jul 29, 2019):

We are moving all feature and enhancement requests to our new Fider platform here. This new platform lets people vote on and better manage such requests.
This request now lives here.

@jellyfin-bot commented on GitHub (Jul 29, 2019): We are moving all feature and enhancement requests to our new Fider platform [here](https://features.jellyfin.org/). This new platform lets people vote on and better manage such requests. This request now lives [here](https://features.jellyfin.org/posts/102/add-more-useful-debug-logging).
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Reference: starred/jellyfin#613