Go/Golang write log to file

Question

I'm trying to write to a log file with Golang.

I have tried several approaches, all of which have failed. This is what I have tried:

func TestLogging(t *testing.T) {
    if !FileExists("logfile") {
        CreateFile("logfile")
    }
    f, err := os.Open("logfile")
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatalf("error: %v", err)
    }

    // attempt #1
    log.SetOutput(io.MultiWriter(os.Stderr, f))
    log.Println("hello, logfile")

    // attempt #2
    log.SetOutput(io.Writer(f))
    log.Println("hello, logfile")

    // attempt #3
    log.SetOutput(f)
    log.Println("hello, logfile")
}

func FileExists(name string) bool {
    if _, err := os.Stat(name); err != nil {
       if os.IsNotExist(err) {
            return false
        }
    }
    return true
}

func CreateFile(name string) error {
    fo, err := os.Create(name)
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    defer func() {
        fo.Close()
    }()
    return nil
}

The log file gets created, but nothing ever gets printed or appended to it. Why?

Answer 1

The default logger in Go writes to stderr (2). redirect to file

import ( 
    "syscall"
    "os" 
 )
func main(){
  fErr, err = os.OpenFile("Errfile", os.O_APPEND|os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0600)
  syscall.Dup2(int(fErr.Fd()), 1) /* -- stdout */
  syscall.Dup2(int(fErr.Fd()), 2) /* -- stderr */

}

Answer 2

Declare up top in your global var so all your processes can access if needed.

package main

import (
    "log"
    "os"
)
var (
    outfile, _ = os.Create("path/to/my.log") // update path for your needs
    l      = log.New(outfile, "", 0)
)

func main() {
    l.Println("hello, log!!!")
}