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Debugging in BillaBear

This section provides information about debugging capabilities and error logging in BillaBear. Proper debugging and error tracking are essential for maintaining a healthy BillaBear installation and quickly resolving issues when they occur.

Available Debugging Tools​

BillaBear provides several tools and methods for debugging and error tracking:

Symfony Profiler​

In development environments, BillaBear includes the Symfony Profiler, a powerful debugging tool that provides detailed information about each request:

  • Access: Available at /_profiler after making a request
  • Features:
    • Request and response details
    • Performance metrics and timeline
    • Database queries and execution time
    • Memory usage
    • Logged messages
    • Configuration details

The Symfony Profiler is automatically disabled in production environments for security and performance reasons.

Logging System​

BillaBear uses Symfony's Monolog for comprehensive logging:

Log Files​

  • Development: Logs are written to var/log/dev.log with debug level
  • Production: Logs are written to var/log/prod.log with info level
  • Test: Logs are written to var/log/test.log

Logging Channels​

BillaBear uses several logging channels for different types of information:

  • main: General application logs
  • deprecation: Deprecation notices
  • obol: Payment processing logs
  • controller: Controller action logs
  • audit: Audit logs for tracking important actions

Viewing Logs​

You can view logs using standard command-line tools:

# View the latest logs
tail -f var/log/prod.log

# Search logs for specific terms
grep "error" var/log/prod.log

External Error Tracking​

For production environments, BillaBear supports integration with Rollbar for error tracking and notification. See the Rollbar Integration page for configuration details.

Debugging Background Tasks​

For debugging background tasks:

  1. Check the application logs for task execution records
  2. Monitor the Symfony Messenger queue status:
    bin/console messenger:stats
  3. Check for failed messages in the queue:
    bin/console messenger:failed:show
  4. Manually trigger a task to test:
    bin/console billabear:background-generic

Audit Logging​

BillaBear includes an audit logging system that tracks important actions in the system:

  • In standard installations, audit logs are written to the configured log files
  • In cloud environments, audit logs are stored in Elasticsearch for better searchability and retention

Best Practices for Debugging​

  1. Use the appropriate environment:

    • Development environment for debugging with full error details
    • Production environment with proper error logging for live systems

  2. Configure error reporting:

    • Enable Rollbar in production for immediate error notifications
    • Set appropriate log levels based on environment

  3. Monitor logs regularly:

    • Check logs for warnings and errors
    • Set up log rotation to manage disk space

  4. Use debugging tools wisely:

    • Symfony Profiler in development for detailed request analysis
    • Xdebug for step-by-step debugging (requires configuration)

  5. Troubleshoot methodically:

    • Check logs first for error messages
    • Verify configuration settings
    • Test in isolation when possible
    • Use the Symfony Profiler to analyze requests