Use console.debug() instead of console.log() where available (e.g. browsers)

[Qix-]

Currently debug output in the browser gets console.log()'d.

However, browsers have a console.debug() call (nonexistent in Node.js, of course) that would group all debug output into its own category, perhaps making it easier for debugging in the browser when trying to look at regular application output.

Relevant lines:

https://github.com/visionmedia/debug/blob/master/src/browser.js#L112-L114

Thoughts?

[Qix-]

@picwellwisher12pk that has absolutely nothing to do with this ticket. Please open a new one.

[nmccready]

I doubt this will ever happen. The if you want to extend you're console or logger then that is the entire purpose of this library.

https://github.com/nmccready/preacher

You're asking this library to do too much. Keep it the way it is unixy.

[Qix-]

@nmccready I don't see how your response is relevant at all. We're already using console.log() everywhere. I'm simply suggesting the use of console.debug() in the browser instead, since it's available there and would allow people to better filter out log messages using inspector tools.

Since I'm not getting much intelligible feedback on this, I don't see any objections and I think it's an improvement to better match how the behavior works in the console.

[nmccready]

10-4, sorry I thought you were asking to override console.debug with debug itself. Instead your asking for the implementation of debug to use console.debug and not console.log for its output. Apologies

[targos]

console.debug() is available in Node from version 8, and would also be filterable with inspector tools if node is run with --inspect.

[Qix-]

@targos TIL. Yeah I figured the logic would be (console.debug || console.log)(...).

[Qix-]

Actually, the node version uses stdout. If people want to use console.debug, they should see #556.

[danielweck]

Just a heads-up about this code change: by default the Chromium web console (maybe others too) filters messages at the info level which excludes console.debug(), so developers will have to explicitly activate the verbose level to see messages outputed by debug() in versions >4.1.0. I have just verified this new behaviour in an Electron app using the debug() code from the master branch (instead of the officially-release version 4.1.0).
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/console/
This is a minor breaking change, but as long as it is well-documented, this should not cause debug() users too many headaches, right? :)

[Qix-]

Seeing as how that's kind of how terminal applications work currently, this is fine. I was aware of this behavior when making the change, hence why it's marked for the 5.x release.

[PieerePi]

Frankly speaking, it's not a good idea. When I upgraded the package from 4.1.1 to 4.2.0, I couldn't find my debug logs until I switched to the 'user messages' category.

It's not user friendly, although that chould be Chrome's problem.

[Qix-]

@PieerePi That is definitely chrome's problem, not ours. This library isn't built for only chrome.

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Locking this as I don't think there's much more discussion to be had here.