The default foot output looks like this, in Debian testing "bookworm"
at the time of writing:
anarcat@angela:pubpaste$ foot true
info: main.c:421: version: 1.13.1 +pgo +ime +graphemes -assertions
info: main.c:428: arch: Linux x86_64/64-bit
info: main.c:440: locale: fr_CA.UTF-8
info: config.c:3003: loading configuration from /home/anarcat/.config/foot/foot.ini
info: fcft.c:338: fcft: 3.1.5 +graphemes -runs +svg(nanosvg) -assertions
info: fcft.c:377: fontconfig: 2.13.1, freetype: 2.12.1, harfbuzz: 5.2.0
info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Regular.otf: size=8.00pt/8px, dpi=75.00
info: wayland.c:1353: eDP-1: 2256x1504+0x0@60Hz 0x095F 13.32" scale=2 PPI=205x214 (physical) PPI=136x143 (logical), DPI=271.31
info: wayland.c:1509: requesting SSD decorations
info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Bold.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Regular.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Bold.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
info: fcft.c:838: /home/anarcat/.local/share/fonts/Fira-4.202/otf/FiraMono-Regular.otf: size=24.00pt/32px, dpi=96.00
info: terminal.c:700: cell width=19, height=39
info: terminal.c:588: using 16 rendering threads
info: wayland.c:859: using SSD decorations
info: main.c:680: goodbye
anarcat@angela:pubpaste$
That's 17 lines of output that are *mostly* useless for most use
cases. I might understand having this output during the project's
startup, when it's helpful for diagnostics, but now Foot just mostly
works everywhere, and I've never had a use for any of that stuff in
the (arguably short) time I've been using Foot so far.
And if I do, there's the `--log-level` commandline option to tweak
this. At first, I looked at tweaking the log level through the config
file. But as explained in this issue:
#1142
... there's a chicken and egg problem there that makes it hard to
implement and possibly confusing for users as well.
There's also the possibility for users to change the shortcut with
which they start foot, for example a `.desktop` file so that menu
systems that support those start foot properly. But that only works in
that environment, and not through the so many things that will just
call `foot` and hope it will do the right thing.
In my case, I have `foot` hardcoded in a lot of places now, between
sway and waybar, and this is only going to grow. Others have suggested
adding the flag to a $TERMINAL global variable, but that won't help
.desktop users.
So, instead of playing whack-a-mole with the log levels, just make it
so that, by default, foot is silent. This is actually one of the
[basics of UNIX philosophy][1]:
> Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it
> should say nothing.
And yes, I am aware I am severely violating that principle by writing
a way too long commit log for a one-line patch, but there you go, I
figured it was good to document the why of this properly.
[1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20031102053334/http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s06.html
Antoine Beaupré