Not printing any debug statements

[toymachiner62]

I'm sure i'm doing something wrong, but I have this code and it's not printing any debug statement's

#!/usr/bin/env node

const axios = require('axios')
const program = require('commander')
const debug = require('debug')
const config = require('./config.json')
const getJwt = require('./getJwt.js')
const package = require('./package.json')
const { envs } = require('./util')

program
  .usage('[options]')
  .description('Delete files/data for a specific account')
  .option('-v --version', package.version)
  .option('-e --env <env>', 'Environment to create account for. Options are "dev", "qa", stage", or "prod"')
  .option('-m, --email <required>', 'email')
  .option('-p, --password <required>', 'password')
  .option('-a --all', 'Remove all files and documents')
  .option('-b --debug', 'Enable debug mode')
  .parse(process.argv)

if (program.debug) {
  console.log('in program.debug')
  debug.enable('debug')
}
console.log('debug is enabled =', debug.enabled('debug'))
debug('here') // WHY ISN'T THIS PRINTING?

And here's the output from my command:

$ ./deleteUserData -e dev -m foo@example.com -p myPassword -a -b
in program.debug
debug is enabled = true

I'm using version 4.1.1 of debug

[Qix-]

Debug is a function that returns a function. The first invocation to debug takes the namespace and returns the actual function to make logging messages

Your call to debug just creates namespaces but doesn't use them. You need to store the result somewhere and use it. Most people do this:

const debug = require('debug')('some:namespace');

[toymachiner62]

I don't want to do that b/c i want to enable it ONLY if a flag is passed in. From what i understand from the docs, doesn't that namespace automatically enable the debug flag?

[Qix-]

No.

A namespace is just a way to group logical sets of logs together. debug gives you the ability to filter out particular namespaces.

How you should be using debug is via the environment variable, not via a flag. This is what it's for - it's not necessarily meant to be a logging mechanism.

/* auth.js */
const debug = require('debug')('my-app:auth');
debug('this has something to do with authentication');

/* db.js */
const debug = require('debug')('my-app:db');
debug('this has something to do with the database');

/* index.js */
require('./db');
require('./auth');

$ DEBUG='my-app:*' node ./index.js
my-app:auth    this has something to do with authentication   +0ms
my-app:db      this has something to do with authentication   +0ms

$ DEBUG='my-app:auth' node ./index.js
my-app:auth    this has something to do with authentication   +0ms

etc.

[toymachiner62]

If i have to use an env var i will set it in the script, but this is a script that I ideally users don't have to know to pass in env vars + flags + stand on their head and chug beer through their eyeball sockets. Ideally they just pass in flags.

I'll tinker with your example above and see if i can get wrangle up what i'm trying to do. should be doable.

[TooTallNate]

To create a debug instance that is always enabled, do this:

const debug = require('debug')('my-namespace');

debug.enabled = true;

debug('some stuff');

[toymachiner62]

If i have to use an env var i will set it in the script, but this is a script that I ideally users don't have to know to pass in env vars + flags + stand on their head and chug beer through their eyeball sockets. Ideally they just pass in flags.

I'll tinker with your example above and see if i can get wrangle up what i'm trying to do. should be doable.

Actually setting the env var in the script doesn't work. Should it?

#!/usr/bin/env node

const axios = require('axios')
const program = require('commander')
const debug = require('debug')('delete')

console.log('process.env.DEBUG = ', process.env.DEBUG)

program
  .usage('[options]')
  .description('Delete files/data for a specific account')
  .option('-v --version', package.version)
  .option('-e --env <env>', 'Environment to create account for. Options are "dev", "qa", stage", or "prod"')
  .option('-m, --email <required>', 'email')
  .option('-p, --password <required>', 'password')
  .option('-a --all', 'Remove all files and documents')
  .option('-b --debug', 'Enable debug mode')
  .parse(process.argv)

if (program.debug) {
  process.env.DEBUG = 'delete'
  console.log('process.env.DEBUG = ', process.env.DEBUG)
}

debug('here') // THIS WONT PRINT WHEN SETTING THE ENV VAR IN THE SCRIPT

Without setting the flag when calling the script, it doesn't work and this is my output:

$ node ./deleteUserData -e dev -m foo@example.com -p myPassword -a -b 
process.env.DEBUG =  undefined
in program.debug
process.env.DEBUG =  delete

When i set the env var when calling the script it does work. Curious if this is expected behavior.

$ DEBUG='delete' node ./deleteUserData -e dev -m foo@example.com -p myPassword -a -b
process.env.DEBUG =  delete
in program.debug
process.env.DEBUG =  delete
  delete here +0ms

[Qix-]

You have to set the environment variable before the initial call to debug. It's a known inconvenience that we have a few issues open to address.

[ndastur]

Just to point out the documentation shows debug.enable as a function. But doesn't seem to exist. Setting .enabled works