NLog 2.0 Release Notes

NLog 2.0 has been released and is available for download from http://nlog.codeplex.com/releases/view/32639.

NLog can also be downloaded directly into your project in Visual Studio by using NuGet package manager. The following packages are available (use version 2.0.0.2000 or above):

What is NLog?

NLog is a popular logging platform for .NET, Silverlight and Windows Phone with rich log routing and management capabilities. It makes it easy to produce and manage high-quality logs for your application regardless of its size or complexity. NLog is open source software, distributed under the terms of BSD license and source is available on GitHub.

NLog 2.0 release is focused on adding support for new platforms (Silverlight, .NET Framework 4, Windows Phone 7.x), improving logging architecture and manageability and addressing most frequently reported user issues.

What’s - New in NLog 2.0

Since there is no StackTrace class in .NET Compact Framework, the implementation uses relatively slow method to get the calling class, so using it in a loop or performance-sensitive code is not recommended)
  • Lambda-based delayed message computation:
Logger logger = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger();
int i, j, k;

// message will not be computed if not necessary, thus helping improve performance when logs are disabled

logger.Info(() => "message" + i + ", " + j + "," + k);

In addition to those, lots of work went into raising the quality bar of NLog:

  • The entire codebase has been migrated to C# 3.0, cleaned up (thanks ReSharper!) and switched to using generic collection classes.
  • StyleCop and FxCop are now being used to analyze code quality.
  • Programmatic configuration API has been redesigned, to reduce internal coupling and improve testability
  • Hundreds of new unit tests have been written
  • Significant portions of internal logging and configuration pipeline have been rewritten for better maintainability.
  • All supported platforms have fully automated unit tests now

Target updates

  • Added WCF-based LogReceiverService target, for communicating between client which uses NLog and server. See examples on GitHub:
  • Update scrolling RichTextBox target - auto scroll, length limit, height and width configuration.
  • Database target enhancements: support for installation and uninstallation, named connection strings from the configuration file.
  • Mail target now supports enableSsl flag for communicating with SMTP server over SSL.

Compatibility

This release of NLog adds compatibility with several new platforms.

  • Windows
    • .NET Framework 2.0 SP1
    • .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 - New in NLog 2.0
    • .NET Framework 4 Client Profile - New in NLog 2.0
    • .NET Framework 4 Extended Profile - New in NLog 2.0
  • Silverlight (Windows/Mac OS X)
    • Silverlight 2.0 - New in NLog 2.0
    • Silverlight 3.0 - New in NLog 2.0
    • Silverlight 4.0 - New in NLog 2.0
  • Silverlight for Windows Phone
    • Windows Phone 7 - New in NLog 2.0
    • Windows Phone 7.1 (beta) - New in NLog 2.0
  • .NET Compact Framework (Windows Mobile)
    • .NET Compact Framework 2.0
    • .NET Compact Framework 3.5 - New in NLog 2.0
  • Mono (Windows/Unix)
    • Mono 2.x profile (experimental)

NLogC component is supported on .NET Framework 4.0 only. NLog.ComInterop component is supported on all versions of .NET Framework. Compatibility with .NET Framework 1.x and .NET Compact Framework has been removed.

Backwards compatibility and breaking change policy

NLog v2.0 maintains backwards compatibility with:

  • existing NLog.config files
  • client code using Logger, LogManager, LoggerFactory, GDC, MDC, NDC and LogEventInfo classes

As a rule of thumb, existing code that does not rely on programmatic configuration or manipulation of NLog internal objects will continue to work with NLog v2.0. Majority of applications and components fall into this category and should be easily portable to NLog v2.0 without or with minimal changes.

Code which uses programmatic configuration will typically require modifications related to namespace reorganization.

Full breaking change policy can be viewed here.

Community support

Community support for NLog 2.0 is available through discussion forum at http://nlog-project.org/forum.

Bugs and other issues can be filed via issue tracker on CodePlex site.

At this time NLog project is not accepting source code contributions from the community. Users can help shape future releases by reporting bugs, suggesting new features and participating in community discussion on NLog forum.

Known issues

  • NLog does not support running code in partial trusted on .NET Framework. Silverlight and Windows Phone partial trust scenarios are supported.
  • NLogTraceListener is not fully functional under Mono because of platform differences
  • Due to platform differences, on Mono, automatic flushing of targets when the application exits does not work properly, which may lead to a deadlock situation which prevents the application from closing. To work-around this problem, close logging configuration manually before program exits.
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