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Make XBT_{IN,OUT,HERE} function-like macros.
[simgrid.git] / src / xbt / log.c
index 205a479..dab6fd5 100644 (file)
-/* $Id$ */
-
 /* log - a generic logging facility in the spirit of log4j                  */
 
-/* Copyright (c) 2003, 2004 Martin Quinson. All rights reserved.            */
+/* Copyright (c) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. The SimGrid Team.
+ * All rights reserved.                                                     */
 
 /* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
  * under the terms of the license (GNU LGPL) which comes with this package. */
 
+
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
+#include <stdio.h>              /* snprintf */
+#include <stdlib.h>             /* snprintf */
+
+#include "portable.h"           /* to get a working stdarg.h */
 
 #include "xbt_modinter.h"
 
 #include "xbt/misc.h"
+#include "xbt/ex.h"
+#include "xbt/str.h"
 #include "xbt/sysdep.h"
-#include "xbt/log.h"
-#include "xbt/error.h"
+#include "xbt/log_private.h"
 #include "xbt/dynar.h"
 
+XBT_PUBLIC_DATA(int) (*xbt_pid) ();
+int xbt_log_no_loc = 0;         /* if set to true (with --log=no_loc), file localization will be omitted (for tesh tests) */
+
+/** \addtogroup XBT_log
+ *
+ *  This section describes the API to the log functions used
+ *  everywhere in this project.
+
+\section XBT_log_toc Table of contents
+
+ - \ref log_overview
+   - \ref log_cat
+   - \ref log_pri
+   - \ref log_app
+   - \ref log_hist
+ - \ref log_API
+   - \ref log_API_cat
+   - \ref log_API_pri
+   - \ref log_API_isenabled
+   - \ref log_API_subcat
+   - \ref log_API_easy
+   - \ref log_API_example
+ - \ref log_user
+   - \ref log_use_conf
+     - \ref log_use_conf_thres
+     - \ref log_use_conf_multi
+     - \ref log_use_conf_fmt
+     - \ref log_use_conf_app
+     - \ref log_use_conf_add
+   - \ref log_use_misc
+ - \ref log_internals
+   - \ref log_in_perf
+   - \ref log_in_app
+ - \ref XBT_log_cats
+
+\section log_overview 1. Introduction
+
+This module is in charge of handling the log messages of every SimGrid
+program. The main design goal are:
+
+  - <b>configurability</b>: the user can choose <i>at runtime</i> what messages to show and
+    what to hide, as well as how messages get displayed.
+  - <b>ease of use</b>: both to the programmer (using preprocessor macros black magic)
+    and to the user (with command line options)
+  - <b>performances</b>: logging shouldn't slow down the program when turned off, for example
+  - deal with <b>distributed settings</b>: SimGrid programs are [often] distributed ones,
+    and the logging mechanism allows to syndicate each and every log source into the same place.
+    At least, its design would allow to, once we write the last missing pieces
+
+There is three main concepts in SimGrid's logging mechanism: <i>category</i>,
+<i>priority</i> and <i>appender</i>. These three concepts work together to
+enable developers to log messages according to message type and priority, and
+to control at runtime how these messages are formatted and where they are
+reported.
+
+\subsection log_cat 1.1 Category hierarchy
+
+The first and foremost advantage of any logging API over plain printf()
+resides in its ability to disable certain log statements while allowing
+others to print unhindered. This capability assumes that the logging space,
+that is, the space of all possible logging statements, is categorized
+according to some developer-chosen criteria.
+
+This observation led to choosing category as the central concept of the
+system. In a certain sense, they can be considered as logging topics or
+channels.
+
+\subsection log_pri 1.2 Logging priorities
+
+The user can naturally declare interest into this or that logging category, but
+he also can specify the desired level of details for each of them. This is
+controlled by the <i>priority</i> concept (which should maybe be renamed to
+<i>severity</i>).
+
+Empirically, the user can specify that he wants to see every debugging message
+of GRAS while only being interested into the messages at level "error" or
+higher about the XBT internals.
+
+\subsection log_app 1.3 Message appenders
+
+The message appenders are the elements in charge of actually displaying the
+message to the user. For now, only two appenders exist: the default one prints
+stuff on stderr while it is possible to create appenders printing to a specific
+file.
+
+Other are planed (such as the one sending everything to a remote server,
+or the one using only a fixed amount of lines in a file, and rotating content on
+need). One day, for sure ;)
+
+\subsection log_lay 1.4 Message layouts
+
+The message layouts are the elements in charge of choosing how each message
+will look like. Their result is a string which is then passed to the appender
+attached to the category to be displayed.
+
+For now, there is two layouts: The simple one, which is good for most cases,
+and another one allowing users to specify the format they want.
+\ref log_use_conf provides more info on this.
+
+\subsection log_hist 1.5 History of this module
+
+Historically, this module is an adaptation of the log4c project, which is dead
+upstream, and which I was given the permission to fork under the LGPL licence
+by the log4c's authors. The log4c project itself was loosely based on the
+Apache project's Log4J, which also inspired Log4CC, Log4py and so on. Our work
+differs somehow from these projects anyway, because the C programming language
+is not object oriented.
+
+\section log_API 2. Programmer interface
+
+\subsection log_API_cat 2.1 Constructing the category hierarchy
+
+Every category is declared by providing a name and an optional
+parent. If no parent is explicitly named, the root category, LOG_ROOT_CAT is
+the category's parent.
+
+A category is created by a macro call at the top level of a file.  A
+category can be created with any one of the following macros:
+
+ - \ref XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(MyCat,desc); Create a new root
+ - \ref XBT_LOG_NEW_SUBCATEGORY(MyCat, ParentCat,desc);
+    Create a new category being child of the category ParentCat
+ - \ref XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_CATEGORY(MyCat,desc);
+    Like XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY, but the new category is the default one
+      in this file
+ -  \ref XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_SUBCATEGORY(MyCat, ParentCat,desc);
+    Like XBT_LOG_NEW_SUBCATEGORY, but the new category is the default one
+      in this file
+
+The parent cat can be defined in the same file or in another file (in
+which case you want to use the \ref XBT_LOG_EXTERNAL_CATEGORY macro to make
+it visible in the current file), but each category may have only one
+definition. Likewise, you can use a category defined in another file as 
+default one using \ref XBT_LOG_EXTERNAL_DEFAULT_CATEGORY
+
+Typically, there will be a Category for each module and sub-module, so you
+can independently control logging for each module.
+
+For a list of all existing categories, please refer to the \ref XBT_log_cats
+section. This file is generated automatically from the SimGrid source code, so
+it should be complete and accurate.
+
+\section log_API_pri 2.2 Declaring message priority
+
+A category may be assigned a threshold priority. The set of priorities are
+defined by the \ref e_xbt_log_priority_t enum. All logging request under
+this priority will be discarded.
+
+If a given category is not assigned a threshold priority, then it inherits
+one from its closest ancestor with an assigned threshold. To ensure that all
+categories can eventually inherit a threshold, the root category always has
+an assigned threshold priority.
+
+Logging requests are made by invoking a logging macro on a category.  All of
+the macros have a printf-style format string followed by arguments. If you
+compile with the -Wall option, gcc will warn you for unmatched arguments, ie
+when you pass a pointer to a string where an integer was specified by the
+format. This is usually a good idea.
+
+Here is an example of the most basic type of macro. This is a logging
+request with priority <i>warning</i>.
+
+<code>XBT_CLOG(MyCat, gras_log_priority_warning, "Values are: %d and '%s'", 5,
+"oops");</code>
+
+A logging request is said to be enabled if its priority is higher than or
+equal to the threshold priority of its category. Otherwise, the request is
+said to be disabled. A category without an assigned priority will inherit
+one from the hierarchy.
+
+It is possible to use any non-negative integer as a priority. If, as in the
+example, one of the standard priorities is used, then there is a convenience
+macro that is typically used instead. For example, the above example is
+equivalent to the shorter:
+
+<code>XBT_CWARN(MyCat, "Values are: %d and '%s'", 5, "oops");</code>
+
+\section log_API_isenabled 2.3 Checking if a particular category/priority is enabled
+
+It is sometimes useful to check whether a particular category is
+enabled at a particular priority. One example is when you want to do
+some extra computation to prepare a nice debugging message. There is
+no use of doing so if the message won't be used afterward because
+debugging is turned off.
+
+Doing so is extremely easy, thanks to the XBT_LOG_ISENABLED(category, priority).
+
+\section log_API_subcat 2.4 Using a default category (the easy interface)
+
+If \ref XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_SUBCATEGORY(MyCat, Parent) or
+\ref XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_CATEGORY(MyCat) is used to create the
+category, then the even shorter form can be used:
+
+<code>XBT_WARN("Values are: %s and '%d'", 5, "oops");</code>
+
+Only one default category can be created per file, though multiple
+non-defaults can be created and used.
+
+\section log_API_easy 2.5 Putting all together: the easy interface
+
+First of all, each module should register its own category into the categories
+tree using \ref XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_SUBCATEGORY.
+
+Then, logging should be done with the #XBT_DEBUG, #XBT_VERB, #XBT_INFO,
+#XBT_WARN, #XBT_ERROR and #XBT_CRITICAL macros.
+
+Under GCC, these macro check there arguments the same way than printf does. So,
+if you compile with -Wall, the following code will issue a warning:
+<code>XBT_DEBUG("Found %s (id %d)", some_string, a_double)</code>
+
+If you want to specify the category to log onto (for example because you
+have more than one category per file, add a C before the name of the log
+producing macro (ie, use #XBT_CDEBUG, #XBT_CVERB, #XBT_CINFO, #XBT_CWARN,
+#XBT_CERROR and #XBT_CCRITICAL and friends), and pass the category name as
+first argument.
+
+The TRACE priority is not used the same way than the other. You should use
+the #XBT_IN, #XBT_OUT and #XBT_HERE macros instead.
+
+\section log_API_example 2.6 Example of use
+
+Here is a more complete example:
+
+\verbatim
+#include "xbt/log.h"
+
+/ * create a category and a default subcategory * /
+XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(VSS);
+XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_SUBCATEGORY(SA, VSS);
+
+int main() {
+       / * Now set the parent's priority.  (the string would typcially be a runtime option) * /
+       xbt_log_control_set("SA.thresh:3");
+
+       / * This request is enabled, because WARNING >= INFO. * /
+       XBT_CWARN(VSS, "Low fuel level.");
+
+       / * This request is disabled, because DEBUG < INFO. * /
+       XBT_CDEBUG(VSS, "Starting search for nearest gas station.");
+
+       / * The default category SA inherits its priority from VSS. Thus,
+          the following request is enabled because INFO >= INFO.  * /
+       XBT_INFO("Located nearest gas station.");
+
+       / * This request is disabled, because DEBUG < INFO. * /
+       XBT_DEBUG("Exiting gas station search");
+}
+\endverbatim
+
+Another example can be found in the relevant part of the GRAS tutorial:
+\ref GRAS_tut_tour_logs.
+
+\section log_user 3. User interface
+
+\section log_use_conf 3.1 Configuration
+
+Although rarely done, it is possible to configure the logs during
+program initialization by invoking the xbt_log_control_set() method
+manually. A more conventional way is to use the --log command line
+argument. xbt_init() (called by MSG_init(), gras_init() and friends)
+checks and deals properly with such arguments.
+
+The following command line arguments exist, but are deprecated and
+may disappear in the future: --xbt-log, --gras-log, --msg-log and
+--surf-log.
+
+\subsection log_use_conf_thres 3.1.1 Threshold configuration
+
+The most common setting is to control which logging event will get
+displayed by setting a threshold to each category through the
+<tt>thres</tt> keyword.
+
+For example, \verbatim --log=root.thres:debug\endverbatim will make
+SimGrid <b>extremely</b> verbose while \verbatim
+--log=root.thres:critical\endverbatim should shut it almost
+completely off.
+
+\subsection log_use_conf_multi 3.1.2 Passing several settings
+
+You can provide several of those arguments to change the setting of several
+categories, they will be applied from left to right. So,
+\verbatim --log="root.thres:debug root.thres:critical"\endverbatim should
+disable almost any logging.
+
+Note that the quotes on above line are mandatory because there is a space in
+the argument, so we are protecting ourselves from the shell, not from SimGrid.
+We could also reach the same effect with this:
+\verbatim --log=root.thres:debug --log=root.thres:critical\endverbatim
+
+\subsection log_use_conf_fmt 3.1.3 Format configuration
+
+As with SimGrid 3.3, it is possible to control the format of log
+messages. This is done through the <tt>fmt</tt> keyword. For example,
+\verbatim --log=root.fmt:%m\endverbatim reduces the output to the
+user-message only, removing any decoration such as the date, or the
+process ID, everything.
+
+Here are the existing format directives:
+
+ - %%: the % char
+ - %%n: platform-dependent line separator (LOG4J compatible)
+ - %%e: plain old space (SimGrid extension)
+
+ - %%m: user-provided message
+
+ - %%c: Category name (LOG4J compatible)
+ - %%p: Priority name (LOG4J compatible)
+
+ - %%h: Hostname (SimGrid extension)
+ - %%P: Process name (SimGrid extension)
+ - %%t: Thread "name" (LOG4J compatible -- actually the address of the thread in memory)
+ - %%i: Process PID (SimGrid extension -- this is a 'i' as in 'i'dea)
+
+ - %%F: file name where the log event was raised (LOG4J compatible)
+ - %%l: location where the log event was raised (LOG4J compatible, like '%%F:%%L' -- this is a l as in 'l'etter)
+ - %%L: line number where the log event was raised (LOG4J compatible)
+ - %%M: function name (LOG4J compatible -- called method name here of course).
+   Defined only when using gcc because there is no __FUNCTION__ elsewhere.
+
+ - %%b: full backtrace (Called %%throwable in LOG4J).
+   Defined only under windows or when using the GNU libc because backtrace() is not defined
+   elsewhere, and we only have a fallback for windows boxes, not mac ones for example.
+ - %%B: short backtrace (only the first line of the %%b).
+   Called %%throwable{short} in LOG4J; defined where %%b is.
+
+ - %%d: date (UNIX-like epoch)
+ - %%r: application age (time elapsed since the beginning of the application)
+
+
+If you want to mimic the simple layout with the format one, you would use this
+format: '[%%h:%%i:(%%i) %%r] %%l: [%%c/%%p] %%m%%n'. This is not completely correct
+because the simple layout do not display the message location for messages at
+priority INFO (thus, the fmt is '[%%h:%%i:(%%i) %%r] [%%c/%%p] %%m%%n' in this
+case). Moreover, if there is no process name (ie, messages coming from the
+library itself, or test programs doing strange things) do not display the
+process identity (thus, fmt is '[%%r] %%l: [%%c/%%p] %%m%%n' in that case, and '[%%r]
+[%%c/%%p] %%m%%n' if they are at priority INFO).
+
+For now, there is only two format modifiers: the precision and the
+width fields. You can for example specify %.4r to get the application
+age with 4 numbers after the radix, or %15p to get the process name
+on 15 columns. Finally, you can specify %10.6r to get the time on at
+most 10 columns, with 6 numbers after the radix. 
+
+Note that when specifying the width, it is filled with spaces. That
+is to say that for example %5r in your format is converted to "% 5f"
+for printf (note the extra space); there is no way to fill the empty
+columns with 0 (ie, pass "%05f" to printf). Another limitation is
+that you cannot set specific layouts to the several priorities.
+
+\subsection log_use_conf_app 3.1.4 Category appender
+
+As with SimGrid 3.3, it is possible to control the appender of log
+messages. This is done through the <tt>app</tt> keyword. For example,
+\verbatim --log=root.app:file:mylogfile\endverbatim redirects the output
+to the file mylogfile.
+
+Any appender setup this way have its own layout format (simple one by default),
+so you may have to change it too afterward. Moreover, the additivity of the log category
+is also set to false to prevent log event displayed by this appender to "leak" to any other
+appender higher in the hierarchy. If it is not what you wanted, you can naturally change it
+manually.
+
+\subsection log_use_conf_add 3.1.5 Category additivity
+
+The <tt>add</tt> keyword allows to specify the additivity of a
+category (see \ref log_in_app). '0', '1', 'no', 'yes', 'on'
+and 'off' are all valid values, with 'yes' as default.
+
+The following example resets the additivity of the xbt category to true (which is its default value).
+\verbatim --log=xbt.add:yes\endverbatim
+
+\section log_use_misc 3.2 Misc and Caveats
+
+  - Do not use any of the macros that start with '_'.
+  - Log4J has a 'rolling file appender' which you can select with a run-time
+    option and specify the max file size. This would be a nice default for
+    non-kernel applications.
+  - Careful, category names are global variables.
+
+\section log_internals 4. Internal considerations
+
+This module is a mess of macro black magic, and when it goes wrong,
+SimGrid studently loose its ability to explain its problems. When
+messing around this module, I often find useful to define
+XBT_LOG_MAYDAY (which turns it back to good old printf) for the time
+of finding what's going wrong. But things are quite verbose when
+everything is enabled...
+
+\section log_in_perf 4.1 Performance
+
+Except for the first invocation of a given category, a disabled logging request
+requires an a single comparison of a static variable to a constant.
+
+There is also compile time constant, \ref XBT_LOG_STATIC_THRESHOLD, which
+causes all logging requests with a lower priority to be optimized to 0 cost
+by the compiler. By setting it to gras_log_priority_infinite, all logging
+requests are statically disabled at compile time and cost nothing. Released executables
+<i>might</i>  be compiled with (note that it will prevent users to debug their problems)
+\verbatim-DXBT_LOG_STATIC_THRESHOLD=gras_log_priority_infinite\endverbatim
+
+Compiling with the \verbatim-DNLOG\endverbatim option disables all logging
+requests at compilation time while the \verbatim-DNDEBUG\endverbatim disables
+the requests of priority below INFO.
+
+\todo Logging performance *may* be improved further by improving the message
+propagation from appender to appender in the category tree.
+
+\section log_in_app 4.2 Appenders
+
+Each category has an optional appender. An appender is a pointer to a
+structure which starts with a pointer to a do_append() function. do_append()
+prints a message to a log.
+
+When a category is passed a message by one of the logging macros, the
+category performs the following actions:
+
+  - if the category has an appender, the message is passed to the
+    appender's do_append() function,
+  - if additivity is true for the category, the message is passed to
+    the category's parent. Additivity is true by default, and can be
+    controlled by xbt_log_additivity_set() or something like --log=root.add:1 (see \ref log_use_conf_add).
+    Also, when you add an appender to a category, its additivity is automatically turned to off.
+    Turn it back on afterward if it is not what you wanted.
+
+By default, only the root category have an appender, and any other category has
+its additivity set to true. This causes all messages to be logged by the root
+category's appender.
+
+The default appender function currently prints to stderr, and the only other
+existing one writes to the specified file. More would be needed, like the one
+able to send the logs to a remote dedicated server.
+This is on our TODO list for quite a while now, but your help would be
+welcome here, too.
+
+
+                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              *//*' */
+
+
+xbt_log_appender_t xbt_log_default_appender = NULL;     /* set in log_init */
+xbt_log_layout_t xbt_log_default_layout = NULL; /* set in log_init */
+
 typedef struct {
   char *catname;
   e_xbt_log_priority_t thresh;
-} s_xbt_log_setting_t,*xbt_log_setting_t;
+  char *fmt;
+  int additivity;
+  xbt_log_appender_t appender;
+} s_xbt_log_setting_t, *xbt_log_setting_t;
+
+static xbt_dynar_t xbt_log_settings = NULL;
 
-static xbt_dynar_t xbt_log_settings=NULL;
-static void _free_setting(void *s) {
-  xbt_log_setting_t set=(xbt_log_setting_t)s;
+static void _free_setting(void *s)
+{
+  xbt_log_setting_t set = *(xbt_log_setting_t *) s;
   if (set) {
-    xbt_free(set->catname);
-/*    xbt_free(set); FIXME: uncommenting this leads to segfault when more than one chunk is passed as gras-log */
+    free(set->catname);
+    if (set->fmt)
+      free(set->fmt);
+    free(set);
   }
 }
 
+static void _xbt_log_cat_apply_set(xbt_log_category_t category,
+                                   xbt_log_setting_t setting);
+
 const char *xbt_log_priority_names[8] = {
   "NONE",
   "TRACE",
@@ -44,353 +501,565 @@ const char *xbt_log_priority_names[8] = {
 };
 
 s_xbt_log_category_t _XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT) = {
-  0, 0, 0,
-  "root", xbt_log_priority_uninitialized, 0,
-  NULL, 0
+  NULL /*parent */ , NULL /* firstChild */ , NULL /* nextSibling */ ,
+      "root", xbt_log_priority_uninitialized /* threshold */ ,
+      0 /* isThreshInherited */ ,
+      NULL /* appender */ , NULL /* layout */ ,
+      0                         /* additivity */
 };
 
-XBT_LOG_NEW_SUBCATEGORY(xbt,XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT,"All XBT categories (simgrid toolbox)");
-XBT_LOG_NEW_SUBCATEGORY(surf,XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT,"All SURF categories");
-XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_SUBCATEGORY(log,xbt,"Loggings from the logging mecanism itself");
-
-void xbt_log_init(int *argc,char **argv, const char *defaultlog) {
-  int i,j;
-  char *opt;
-  int found=0;
+XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(xbt, "All XBT categories (simgrid toolbox)");
+XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(surf, "All SURF categories");
+XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(msg, "All MSG categories");
+XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(simix, "All SIMIX categories");
+XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(mc, "All MC categories");
+XBT_LOG_NEW_CATEGORY(bindings, "All bindings categories");
 
-  /** Set logs and init log submodule */
-  for (i=1; i<*argc; i++) {
-    if (!strncmp(argv[i],"--gras-log=",strlen("--gras-log="))) {
-      found = 1;
-      opt=strchr(argv[i],'=');
-      opt++;
-      xbt_log_control_set(opt);
-      DEBUG1("Did apply '%s' as log setting",opt);
-      /*remove this from argv*/
-      for (j=i+1; j<*argc; j++) {
-       argv[j-1] = argv[j];
-      } 
-      argv[j-1] = NULL;
-      (*argc)--;
-      i--; /* compensate effect of next loop incrementation */
-    }
-  }
-  if (!found && defaultlog) {
-     xbt_log_control_set(defaultlog);
-  }
-}
+XBT_LOG_NEW_DEFAULT_SUBCATEGORY(log, xbt,
+                                "Loggings from the logging mechanism itself");
 
-void xbt_log_exit(void) {
-  VERB0("Exiting log");
-  xbt_dynar_free(&xbt_log_settings);
-  VERB0("Exited log");
+/* create the default appender and install it in the root category,
+   which were already created (damnit. Too slow little beetle) */
+void xbt_log_preinit(void)
+{
+  xbt_log_default_appender = xbt_log_appender_file_new(NULL);
+  xbt_log_default_layout = xbt_log_layout_simple_new(NULL);
+  _XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT).appender = xbt_log_default_appender;
+  _XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT).layout = xbt_log_default_layout;
 }
 
-static void _apply_control(xbt_log_category_t cat) {
-  int cursor;
-  xbt_log_setting_t setting=NULL;
-  int found = 0;
-
-  if (!xbt_log_settings)
-    return;
+/** @brief Get all logging settings from the command line
+ *
+ * xbt_log_control_set() is called on each string we got from cmd line
+ */
+void xbt_log_init(int *argc, char **argv)
+{
+  int i, j;
+  char *opt;
 
-  xbt_assert0(cat,"NULL category");
-  xbt_assert(cat->name);
+  //    _XBT_LOGV(log).threshold = xbt_log_priority_debug; /* uncomment to set the LOG category to debug directly */
 
-  xbt_dynar_foreach(xbt_log_settings,cursor,setting) {
-    xbt_assert0(setting,"Damnit, NULL cat in the list");
-    xbt_assert1(setting->catname,"NULL setting(=%p)->catname",(void*)setting);
+  /* Set logs and init log submodule */
+  for (i = 1; i < *argc; i++) {
+    if (!strncmp(argv[i], "--log=", strlen("--log=")) ||
+        !strncmp(argv[i], "--gras-log=", strlen("--gras-log=")) ||
+        !strncmp(argv[i], "--surf-log=", strlen("--surf-log=")) ||
+        !strncmp(argv[i], "--msg-log=", strlen("--msg-log=")) ||
+        !strncmp(argv[i], "--simix-log=", strlen("--simix-log=")) ||
+        !strncmp(argv[i], "--xbt-log=", strlen("--xbt-log="))) {
 
-    if (!strcmp(setting->catname,cat->name)) {
-      found = 1;
+      if (strncmp(argv[i], "--log=", strlen("--log=")))
+        XBT_WARN
+            ("Option %.*s is deprecated and will disapear in the future. Use --log instead.",
+             (int) (strchr(argv[i], '=') - argv[i]), argv[i]);
 
-      xbt_log_threshold_set(cat, setting->thresh);
-      xbt_dynar_cursor_rm(xbt_log_settings,&cursor);
+      opt = strchr(argv[i], '=');
+      opt++;
+      xbt_log_control_set(opt);
+      XBT_DEBUG("Did apply '%s' as log setting", opt);
+      /*remove this from argv */
 
-      if (cat->threshold <= xbt_log_priority_verbose) {
-       s_xbt_log_event_t _log_ev = 
-         {cat,xbt_log_priority_verbose,__FILE__,_XBT_GNUC_FUNCTION,__LINE__};
-       _xbt_log_event_log(&_log_ev,
-                "Apply settings for category '%s': set threshold to %s (=%d)",
-                cat->name, 
-                xbt_log_priority_names[cat->threshold], cat->threshold);
+      for (j = i + 1; j < *argc; j++) {
+        argv[j - 1] = argv[j];
       }
+
+      argv[j - 1] = NULL;
+      (*argc)--;
+      i--;                      /* compensate effect of next loop incrementation */
     }
   }
-  if (!found && cat->threshold <= xbt_log_priority_verbose) {
-    s_xbt_log_event_t _log_ev = 
-      {cat,xbt_log_priority_verbose,__FILE__,_XBT_GNUC_FUNCTION,__LINE__};
-    _xbt_log_event_log(&_log_ev,
-                       "Category '%s': inherited threshold = %s (=%d)",
-                       cat->name,
-                       xbt_log_priority_names[cat->threshold], cat->threshold);
+}
+
+static void log_cat_exit(xbt_log_category_t cat)
+{
+  xbt_log_category_t child;
+
+  if (cat->appender) {
+    if (cat->appender->free_)
+      cat->appender->free_(cat->appender);
+    free(cat->appender);
+  }
+  if (cat->layout) {
+    if (cat->layout->free_)
+      cat->layout->free_(cat->layout);
+    free(cat->layout);
   }
 
+  for (child = cat->firstChild; child != NULL; child = child->nextSibling)
+    log_cat_exit(child);
 }
 
-void _xbt_log_event_log( xbt_log_event_t ev, const char *fmt, ...) {
+void xbt_log_postexit(void)
+{
+  XBT_VERB("Exiting log");
+  xbt_dynar_free(&xbt_log_settings);
+  log_cat_exit(&_XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT));
+}
+
+void _xbt_log_event_log(xbt_log_event_t ev, const char *fmt, ...)
+{
+
   xbt_log_category_t cat = ev->cat;
+
   va_start(ev->ap, fmt);
-  while(1) {
+  va_start(ev->ap_copy, fmt);
+  while (1) {
     xbt_log_appender_t appender = cat->appender;
     if (appender != NULL) {
-      appender->do_append(appender, ev, fmt);
+      xbt_assert1(cat->layout,
+                  "No valid layout for the appender of category %s",
+                  cat->name);
+      cat->layout->do_layout(cat->layout, ev, fmt, appender);
     }
-    if (!cat->willLogToParent)
+    if (!cat->additivity)
       break;
 
     cat = cat->parent;
-  } 
+  }
   va_end(ev->ap);
+  va_end(ev->ap_copy);
+
+#ifdef _XBT_WIN32
+  free(ev->buffer);
+#endif
 }
 
-static void _cat_init(xbt_log_category_t category) {
-  if (category == &_XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT)) {
-    category->threshold = xbt_log_priority_info;
-    category->appender = xbt_log_default_appender;
-  } else {
-    xbt_log_parent_set(category, category->parent);
+/* NOTE:
+ *
+ * The standard logging macros use _XBT_LOG_ISENABLED, which calls
+ * _xbt_log_cat_init().  Thus, if we want to avoid an infinite
+ * recursion, we can not use the standard logging macros in
+ * _xbt_log_cat_init(), and in all functions called from it.
+ *
+ * To circumvent the problem, we define the macro_xbt_log_init() as
+ * (0) for the length of the affected functions, and we do not forget
+ * to undefine it at the end!
+ */
+
+static void _xbt_log_cat_apply_set(xbt_log_category_t category,
+                                   xbt_log_setting_t setting)
+{
+#define _xbt_log_cat_init(a, b) (0)
+
+  if (setting->thresh != xbt_log_priority_uninitialized) {
+    xbt_log_threshold_set(category, setting->thresh);
+
+    XBT_DEBUG("Apply settings for category '%s': set threshold to %s (=%d)",
+           category->name, xbt_log_priority_names[category->threshold],
+           category->threshold);
   }
-  _apply_control(category);
+
+  if (setting->fmt) {
+    xbt_log_layout_set(category, xbt_log_layout_format_new(setting->fmt));
+
+    XBT_DEBUG("Apply settings for category '%s': set format to %s",
+           category->name, setting->fmt);
+  }
+
+  if (setting->additivity != -1) {
+    xbt_log_additivity_set(category, setting->additivity);
+
+    XBT_DEBUG("Apply settings for category '%s': set additivity to %s",
+           category->name, (setting->additivity ? "on" : "off"));
+  }
+  if (setting->appender) {
+    xbt_log_appender_set(category, setting->appender);
+    if (!category->layout)
+      xbt_log_layout_set(category, xbt_log_layout_simple_new(NULL));
+    category->additivity = 0;
+    XBT_DEBUG("Set %p as appender of category '%s'",
+           setting->appender, category->name);
+  }
+#undef _xbt_log_cat_init
 }
 
 /*
  * This gets called the first time a category is referenced and performs the
- * initialization. 
+ * initialization.
  * Also resets threshold to inherited!
  */
-int _xbt_log_cat_init(e_xbt_log_priority_t priority,
-                      xbt_log_category_t   category) {
-    
-  _cat_init(category);
-        
+int _xbt_log_cat_init(xbt_log_category_t category,
+                      e_xbt_log_priority_t priority)
+{
+#define _xbt_log_cat_init(a, b) (0)
+
+  unsigned int cursor;
+  xbt_log_setting_t setting = NULL;
+  int found = 0;
+
+  XBT_DEBUG("Initializing category '%s' (firstChild=%s, nextSibling=%s)",
+         category->name,
+         (category->firstChild ? category->firstChild->name : "none"),
+         (category->nextSibling ? category->nextSibling->name : "none"));
+
+  if (category == &_XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT)) {
+    category->threshold = xbt_log_priority_info;
+    /* xbt_log_priority_debug */ ;
+    category->appender = xbt_log_default_appender;
+    category->layout = xbt_log_default_layout;
+  } else {
+
+    if (!category->parent)
+      category->parent = &_XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT);
+
+    XBT_DEBUG("Set %s (%s) as father of %s ",
+           category->parent->name,
+           (category->parent->threshold == xbt_log_priority_uninitialized ?
+            "uninited" : xbt_log_priority_names[category->
+                                                parent->threshold]),
+           category->name);
+    xbt_log_parent_set(category, category->parent);
+
+    if (XBT_LOG_ISENABLED(log, xbt_log_priority_debug)) {
+      char *buf, *res = NULL;
+      xbt_log_category_t cpp = category->parent->firstChild;
+      while (cpp) {
+        if (res) {
+          buf = bprintf("%s %s", res, cpp->name);
+          free(res);
+          res = buf;
+        } else {
+          res = xbt_strdup(cpp->name);
+        }
+        cpp = cpp->nextSibling;
+      }
+
+      XBT_DEBUG("Childs of %s: %s; nextSibling: %s",
+             category->parent->name, res,
+             (category->parent->nextSibling ?
+              category->parent->nextSibling->name : "none"));
+
+      free(res);
+    }
+
+  }
+
+  /* Apply the control */
+  if (!xbt_log_settings)
+    return priority >= category->threshold;
+
+  xbt_assert0(category, "NULL category");
+  xbt_assert(category->name);
+
+  xbt_dynar_foreach(xbt_log_settings, cursor, setting) {
+    xbt_assert0(setting, "Damnit, NULL cat in the list");
+    xbt_assert1(setting->catname, "NULL setting(=%p)->catname",
+                (void *) setting);
+
+    if (!strcmp(setting->catname, category->name)) {
+
+      found = 1;
+
+      _xbt_log_cat_apply_set(category, setting);
+
+      xbt_dynar_cursor_rm(xbt_log_settings, &cursor);
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (!found)
+    XBT_DEBUG("Category '%s': inherited threshold = %s (=%d)",
+           category->name, xbt_log_priority_names[category->threshold],
+           category->threshold);
+
   return priority >= category->threshold;
+
+#undef _xbt_log_cat_init
 }
 
-void xbt_log_parent_set(xbt_log_category_t cat,
-                        xbt_log_category_t parent) {
+void xbt_log_parent_set(xbt_log_category_t cat, xbt_log_category_t parent)
+{
 
-  xbt_assert0(cat,"NULL category to be given a parent");
-  xbt_assert1(parent,"The parent category of %s is NULL",cat->name);
+  xbt_assert0(cat, "NULL category to be given a parent");
+  xbt_assert1(parent, "The parent category of %s is NULL", cat->name);
 
-  /* unlink from current parent */
+  /*
+   * if the threshold is initialized
+   * unlink from current parent
+   */
   if (cat->threshold != xbt_log_priority_uninitialized) {
-    xbt_log_category_t* cpp = &parent->firstChild;
-    while(*cpp != cat && *cpp != NULL) {
+
+    xbt_log_category_t *cpp = &parent->firstChild;
+
+    while (*cpp != cat && *cpp != NULL) {
       cpp = &(*cpp)->nextSibling;
     }
+
     xbt_assert(*cpp == cat);
     *cpp = cat->nextSibling;
   }
 
-  /* Set new parent */
   cat->parent = parent;
   cat->nextSibling = parent->firstChild;
+
   parent->firstChild = cat;
 
-  /* Make sure parent is initialized */
   if (parent->threshold == xbt_log_priority_uninitialized) {
-    _cat_init(parent);
+
+    _xbt_log_cat_init(parent,
+                      xbt_log_priority_uninitialized /* ignored */ );
   }
-    
-  /* Reset priority */
+
   cat->threshold = parent->threshold;
+
   cat->isThreshInherited = 1;
-} /* log_setParent */
 
-static void _set_inherited_thresholds(xbt_log_category_t cat) {
+}
+
+static void _set_inherited_thresholds(xbt_log_category_t cat)
+{
+
   xbt_log_category_t child = cat->firstChild;
-  for( ; child != NULL; child = child->nextSibling) {
+
+  for (; child != NULL; child = child->nextSibling) {
     if (child->isThreshInherited) {
       if (cat != &_XBT_LOGV(log))
-       VERB3("Set category threshold of %s to %s (=%d)",
-             child->name,xbt_log_priority_names[cat->threshold],cat->threshold);
+        XBT_VERB("Set category threshold of %s to %s (=%d)",
+              child->name, xbt_log_priority_names[cat->threshold],
+              cat->threshold);
       child->threshold = cat->threshold;
       _set_inherited_thresholds(child);
     }
   }
+
+
 }
 
-void xbt_log_threshold_set(xbt_log_category_t   cat,
-                           e_xbt_log_priority_t threshold) {
+void xbt_log_threshold_set(xbt_log_category_t cat,
+                           e_xbt_log_priority_t threshold)
+{
   cat->threshold = threshold;
   cat->isThreshInherited = 0;
+
   _set_inherited_thresholds(cat);
+
 }
 
-static void _xbt_log_parse_setting(const char*        control_string,
-                                   xbt_log_setting_t set) {
+static xbt_log_setting_t _xbt_log_parse_setting(const char *control_string)
+{
+
+  xbt_log_setting_t set = xbt_new(s_xbt_log_setting_t, 1);
   const char *name, *dot, *eq;
-  
-  set->catname=NULL;
-  if (!*control_string) 
-    return;
-  DEBUG1("Parse log setting '%s'",control_string);
+
+  set->catname = NULL;
+  set->thresh = xbt_log_priority_uninitialized;
+  set->fmt = NULL;
+  set->additivity = -1;
+  set->appender = NULL;
+
+  if (!*control_string)
+    return set;
+  XBT_DEBUG("Parse log setting '%s'", control_string);
 
   control_string += strspn(control_string, " ");
   name = control_string;
   control_string += strcspn(control_string, ".= ");
   dot = control_string;
-  control_string += strcspn(control_string, "= ");
+  control_string += strcspn(control_string, ":= ");
   eq = control_string;
   control_string += strcspn(control_string, " ");
 
-  xbt_assert1(*dot == '.' && *eq == '=',
-              "Invalid control string '%s'",control_string);
+  xbt_assert1(*dot == '.' && (*eq == '=' || *eq == ':'),
+              "Invalid control string '%s'", control_string);
 
-  if (!strncmp(dot + 1, "thresh", min(eq - dot - 1,strlen("thresh")))) {
+  if (!strncmp(dot + 1, "thresh", (size_t) (eq - dot - 1))) {
     int i;
-    char *neweq=xbt_strdup(eq+1);
-    char *p=neweq-1;
-    
+    char *neweq = xbt_strdup(eq + 1);
+    char *p = neweq - 1;
+
     while (*(++p) != '\0') {
       if (*p >= 'a' && *p <= 'z') {
-       *p-='a'-'A';
+        *p -= 'a' - 'A';
       }
     }
-    
-    DEBUG1("New priority name = %s",neweq);
-    for (i=0; i<xbt_log_priority_infinite-1; i++) {
-      if (!strncmp(xbt_log_priority_names[i],neweq,p-eq)) {
-       DEBUG1("This is priority %d",i);
-       break;
+
+    XBT_DEBUG("New priority name = %s", neweq);
+    for (i = 0; i < xbt_log_priority_infinite; i++) {
+      if (!strncmp(xbt_log_priority_names[i], neweq, p - eq)) {
+        XBT_DEBUG("This is priority %d", i);
+        break;
       }
     }
-    if (i<xbt_log_priority_infinite-1) {
-      set->thresh=i;
+    if (i < xbt_log_priority_infinite) {
+      set->thresh = (e_xbt_log_priority_t) i;
     } else {
-      xbt_assert1(FALSE,"Unknown priority name: %s",eq+1);
+      THROW1(arg_error, 0,
+             "Unknown priority name: %s (must be one of: trace,debug,verbose,info,warning,error,critical)",
+             eq + 1);
     }
-    xbt_free(neweq);
+    free(neweq);
+  } else if (!strncmp(dot + 1, "add", (size_t) (eq - dot - 1)) ||
+             !strncmp(dot + 1, "additivity", (size_t) (eq - dot - 1))) {
+
+    char *neweq = xbt_strdup(eq + 1);
+    char *p = neweq - 1;
+
+    while (*(++p) != '\0') {
+      if (*p >= 'a' && *p <= 'z') {
+        *p -= 'a' - 'A';
+      }
+    }
+    if (!strcmp(neweq, "ON") || !strcmp(neweq, "YES")
+        || !strcmp(neweq, "1")) {
+      set->additivity = 1;
+    } else {
+      set->additivity = 0;
+    }
+    free(neweq);
+  } else if (!strncmp(dot + 1, "app", (size_t) (eq - dot - 1)) ||
+             !strncmp(dot + 1, "appender", (size_t) (eq - dot - 1))) {
+
+    char *neweq = xbt_strdup(eq + 1);
+
+    if (!strncmp(neweq, "file:", 5)) {
+      set->appender = xbt_log_appender_file_new(neweq + 5);
+    } else {
+      THROW1(arg_error, 0, "Unknown appender log type: '%s'", neweq);
+    }
+    free(neweq);
+  } else if (!strncmp(dot + 1, "fmt", (size_t) (eq - dot - 1))) {
+    set->fmt = xbt_strdup(eq + 1);
   } else {
     char buff[512];
-    snprintf(buff,min(512,eq - dot - 1),"%s",dot+1);
-    xbt_assert1(FALSE,"Unknown setting of the log category: %s",buff);
+    snprintf(buff, min(512, eq - dot), "%s", dot + 1);
+    THROW1(arg_error, 0, "Unknown setting of the log category: '%s'",
+           buff);
   }
-  set->catname=(char*)xbt_malloc(dot - name+1);
-    
-  strncpy(set->catname,name,dot-name);
-  set->catname[dot-name]='\0'; /* Just in case */
-  DEBUG1("This is for cat '%s'", set->catname);
-}
+  set->catname = (char *) xbt_malloc(dot - name + 1);
 
-static xbt_error_t _xbt_log_cat_searchsub(xbt_log_category_t cat,char *name,
-                                           /*OUT*/xbt_log_category_t*whereto) {
-  xbt_error_t errcode;
-  xbt_log_category_t child;
-  
-  if (!strcmp(cat->name,name)) {
-    *whereto=cat;
-    return no_error;
-  }
-  for(child=cat->firstChild ; child != NULL; child = child->nextSibling) {
-    errcode=_xbt_log_cat_searchsub(child,name,whereto);
-    if (errcode==no_error)
-      return no_error;
-  }
-  return mismatch_error;
+  memcpy(set->catname, name, dot - name);
+  set->catname[dot - name] = '\0';      /* Just in case */
+  XBT_DEBUG("This is for cat '%s'", set->catname);
+
+  return set;
 }
 
-static void _cleanup_double_spaces(char *s) {
-  char *p = s;
-  int   e = 0;
-  
-  while (1) {
-    if (!*p)
-      goto end;
-    
-    if (!isspace(*p))
-      break;
-    
-    p++;
+static xbt_log_category_t _xbt_log_cat_searchsub(xbt_log_category_t cat,
+                                                 char *name)
+{
+  xbt_log_category_t child, res;
+
+  XBT_DEBUG("Search '%s' into '%s' (firstChild='%s'; nextSibling='%s')", name,
+         cat->name, (cat->firstChild ? cat->firstChild->name : "none"),
+         (cat->nextSibling ? cat->nextSibling->name : "none"));
+  if (!strcmp(cat->name, name))
+    return cat;
+
+  for (child = cat->firstChild; child != NULL; child = child->nextSibling) {
+    XBT_DEBUG("Dig into %s", child->name);
+    res = _xbt_log_cat_searchsub(child, name);
+    if (res)
+      return res;
   }
-  
-  e = 1;
-  
-  do {
-    if (e)
-      *s++ = *p;
-    
-    if (!*++p)
-      goto end;
-    
-    if (e ^ !isspace(*p))
-      if ((e = !e))
-       *s++ = ' ';
-  } while (1);
-
- end:
-  *s = '\0';
+
+  return NULL;
 }
 
 /**
- * \ingroup XBT_log  
+ * \ingroup XBT_log
  * \param control_string What to parse
  *
  * Typically passed a command-line argument. The string has the syntax:
  *
- *      ( [category] "." [keyword] "=" value (" ")... )...
+ *      ( [category] "." [keyword] ":" value (" ")... )...
  *
- * where [category] is one the category names and keyword is one of the
- * following:
+ * where [category] is one the category names (see \ref XBT_log_cats for
+ * a complete list of the ones defined in the SimGrid library)
+ * and keyword is one of the following:
  *
- *      thresh         value is an integer priority level. Sets the category's
- *                        threshold priority.
+ *    - thres: category's threshold priority. Possible values:
+ *             TRACE,DEBUG,VERBOSE,INFO,WARNING,ERROR,CRITICAL
+ *    - add or additivity: whether the logging actions must be passed to
+ *      the parent category.
+ *      Possible values: 0, 1, no, yes, on, off.
+ *      Default value: yes.
+ *    - fmt: the format to use. See \ref log_use_conf_fmt for more information.
+ *    - app or appender: the appender to use. See \ref log_use_conf_app for more
+ *      information.
  *
- * \warning
- * This routine may only be called once and that must be before any other
- * logging command! Typically, this is done from main().
  */
-void xbt_log_control_set(const char* control_string) {
-  xbt_error_t errcode;
+void xbt_log_control_set(const char *control_string)
+{
   xbt_log_setting_t set;
-  char *cs;
-  char *p;
-  int done = 0;
-  
-  DEBUG1("Parse log settings '%s'",control_string);
-  if (control_string == NULL)
+
+  /* To split the string in commands, and the cursors */
+  xbt_dynar_t set_strings;
+  char *str;
+  unsigned int cpt;
+
+  if (!control_string)
+    return;
+  XBT_DEBUG("Parse log settings '%s'", control_string);
+
+  /* Special handling of no_loc request, which asks for any file localization to be omitted (for tesh runs) */
+  if (!strcmp(control_string, "no_loc")) {
+    xbt_log_no_loc = 1;
     return;
+  }
+  /* some initialization if this is the first time that this get called */
   if (xbt_log_settings == NULL)
     xbt_log_settings = xbt_dynar_new(sizeof(xbt_log_setting_t),
-                                      _free_setting);
+                                     _free_setting);
 
-  set = xbt_new(s_xbt_log_setting_t,1);
-  cs=xbt_strdup(control_string);
+  /* split the string, and remove empty entries */
+  set_strings = xbt_str_split_quoted(control_string);
 
-  _cleanup_double_spaces(cs);
+  if (xbt_dynar_length(set_strings) == 0) {     /* vicious user! */
+    xbt_dynar_free(&set_strings);
+    return;
+  }
 
-  while (!done) {
-    xbt_log_category_t cat;
-    
-    p=strrchr(cs,' ');
-    if (p) {
-      *p='\0';
-      *p++;
-    } else {
-      p=cs;
-      done = 1;
-    }
-    _xbt_log_parse_setting(p,set);
-    
-    errcode = _xbt_log_cat_searchsub(&_XBT_LOGV(root),set->catname,&cat);
-    if (errcode == mismatch_error) {
-      DEBUG0("Store for further application");
-      DEBUG1("push %p to the settings",(void*)set);
-      xbt_dynar_push(xbt_log_settings,&set);
-      /* malloc in advance the next slot */
-      set = xbt_new(s_xbt_log_setting_t,1);
+  /* Parse each entry and either use it right now (if the category was already
+     created), or store it for further use */
+  xbt_dynar_foreach(set_strings, cpt, str) {
+    xbt_log_category_t cat = NULL;
+
+    set = _xbt_log_parse_setting(str);
+    cat =
+        _xbt_log_cat_searchsub(&_XBT_LOGV(XBT_LOG_ROOT_CAT), set->catname);
+
+    if (cat) {
+      XBT_DEBUG("Apply directly");
+      _xbt_log_cat_apply_set(cat, set);
+      _free_setting((void *) &set);
     } else {
-      DEBUG0("Apply directly");
-      xbt_free(set->catname);
-      xbt_log_threshold_set(cat,set->thresh);
+
+      XBT_DEBUG("Store for further application");
+      XBT_DEBUG("push %p to the settings", (void *) set);
+      xbt_dynar_push(xbt_log_settings, &set);
     }
   }
-  xbt_free(set);
-  xbt_free(cs);
-} 
+  xbt_dynar_free(&set_strings);
+}
 
-void xbt_log_appender_set(xbt_log_category_t cat, xbt_log_appender_t app) {
+void xbt_log_appender_set(xbt_log_category_t cat, xbt_log_appender_t app)
+{
+  if (cat->appender) {
+    if (cat->appender->free_)
+      cat->appender->free_(cat->appender);
+    free(cat->appender);
+  }
   cat->appender = app;
 }
 
+void xbt_log_layout_set(xbt_log_category_t cat, xbt_log_layout_t lay)
+{
+  if (!cat->appender) {
+    XBT_VERB
+        ("No appender to category %s. Setting the file appender as default",
+         cat->name);
+    xbt_log_appender_set(cat, xbt_log_appender_file_new(NULL));
+  }
+  if (cat->layout) {
+    if (cat->layout->free_) {
+      cat->layout->free_(cat->layout);
+    }
+    free(cat->layout);
+  }
+  cat->layout = lay;
+  xbt_log_additivity_set(cat, 0);
+}
+
+void xbt_log_additivity_set(xbt_log_category_t cat, int additivity)
+{
+  cat->additivity = additivity;
+}