[systemd-devel] python - reading the journal

[Steven Hiscocks]

On 05/02/13 23:00, Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 05, 2013 at 09:22:46PM +0000, Steven Hiscocks wrote:
>> On 05/02/13 02:49, Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 04, 2013 at 10:42:02PM +0000, Steven Hiscocks wrote:
>>>> I've made the suggested changes and pushed it to github. Feedback
>>>> welcomed :)
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> Some more thoughts on the API below. Some of those are probably
>>> stupid, but I want to throw them out in the open, for your feedback.
>>>
>>> SD_MESSAGE_* are string constants. Shouldn't they be int constants
>>> like in C? The conversion both ways is pretty simple, but if the
>>> constants were used outside of journal matches it would be nicer
>>> to have them as ints. The downside would be that the user
>>> would have to printf the int to use it in a match. But... see next
>>> point.
>>>
>>> It would be nice to expose the rest of sd-id128 API:
>>> sd_id128_to_string(3), sd_id128_randomize(3),
>>> sd_id128_get_machine(3). They would probably go in a separate module
>>> (systemd.id128), since they are useful in writing journal entries too.
>>>
>> Okay. Sounds like they should be dropped from the current code, as
>> in the future the SD_MESSAGE_* constants will be accessed via python
>> module systemd.id128?
> Yes.
>
> I think that once pyjournalctl is part of the systemd tree, the constants
> should be generated from sd-messages.h by a script. Otherwise, we'll
> be constantly forgetting to update those.
>
>>>>>> journal.seek_monotonic(int(monotonic.total_seconds()*1E6), bootid)
>>> Python interfaces usually use floating point numbers to mean
>>> seconds. A double has ~16 significant numbers, so the accuracy should
>>> be enough, so I believe the detail that this is microseconds should
>>> be hidden.
>>>
>> Makes sense to me. Done.
>>> It would be better to replace PyRun_String with normal C methods,
>>> but that can be done later.
>>>
>> Yeah... I cheated a bit here ;)
>>> sd_journal_open_directory is not wrapped, but that can be added
>>> later.
>>>
>> Good point, easy enough to add. Done.
>>> What about renaming Journalctl to Journal? It doesn't really control
>>> anything :)
>>>
>> Yeah. I wasn't too sure on the name when I got started. I was
>> concious of not clashing with the present systemd.journal. What is
>> the overall planned structure for the python modules, and where
>> would this fit in?
> Good question. Once the SD_MESSAGE constants are moved, pyjournalctl
> will only export Journalctl and a few constants. If think that could
> go straight into the systemd.journal module. _journal.so already
> links against libsystemd-journal.so.0, so I don't think that the
> additional code for Journalctl will make any different.
>
> Specifically: rename pyjournalctl.c to src/python-systemd/_reader.c
> (unless somebody comes up with a better name), and Journalctl to Journal.
> In journal.py import Journal and the constants from _reader.
>
>>> SD_JOURNAL_LOCAL_ONLY should probably be renamed to LOCAL_ONLY
>>> (SD_JOURNAL_RUNTIME_ONLY, SYSTEM_ONLY likewise). Here namespaceing
>>> will be provided by the module, so there's no need for the long name.
>>>
>> Good point. Done.
>>
>>> Second argument to .seek(), a documentation only change: it would be
>>> nice to use io.SEEK_SET, io.SEEK_CUR, io.SEEK_END in the description.
>>>
>> I had this in mind when developing, but was just a bit lazy and
>> stuck the number in :-p . Done.
>>> Should .query_unique() return a set instead? This would make checking
>>> if an field is present faster, and also underline the fact that those
>>> are non-repeating entries.
>>>
>> Of course! Done.
>>> Your module will be great for creating a test suite for journal. At the
>>> same time it will also serve as a test suite for the module.
>>>
>>> Zbyszek
>>>
>>
>> Thanks again for the feedback. Latest changes pushed to github.
> Thank you for your work.
>
> Let me know what you think about the proposed integration scheme.
>
> Zbyszek
>

Okay. Sounds good.

You'll have to pardon my ignorance :), but my experience of git is 
limited to use of github...
What's the best way to go about achieving this? Should I fork the 
systemd-repo from freedesktop, putting pyjournalctl.c in as 
src/python-systemd/_reader.c (and make other changes mentioned) and use 
`git format-patch` to submit via email?

-- 
Steven Hiscocks