Merge pull request #5851 from chef/lcg/chef-13-formatter

Chef-13:  remove magic from the logger/formatter settings

1 files changed, 25 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 0ccd86637c..1f5b069d0c 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -272,3 +272,28 @@ use `recipe.rb` in the root of the cookbook.
 The `use_inline_resources` provider mode is always enabled when using the
 `action :name do ... end` syntax. You can remove the `use_inline_resources`
 line.
+
+### The logger and formatter settings are more predictable
+
+The default now is the formatter.  There is no more automatic switching to the logger when logging or when output
+is sent to a pipe.  The logger needs to be specifically requested with `--force-logger` or it will not show up.
+
+The `--force-formatter` option does still exist, although it will probably be deprecated in the future.
+
+Setting the `log_location` in the config.rb now applies to both daemonized and command-line invocation and there is
+no magic which dups the logger in order to log to STDOUT on the command line in that case.
+
+Setting logger settings in config.rb is most likely no longer appropriate and those settings should be changed to
+command line flags on the config script or cronjob that invokes chef-client daemonized.  In other words:
+
+```
+chef-client -d -L /var/log/client.rb --force-logger
+```
+
+If your logfiles switch to the formatter, you need to include `--force-logger` for your daemonized runs.
+
+If your command line invocations have no output, delete the config.rb setting for the log_location and move that
+to the command line that invokes your daemon process.
+
+Redirecting output to a file with `chef-client > /tmp/chef.out` now captures the same output as invoking it directly on the command
+line with no redirection.