How do you log php errors with CakePHP when debug is 0?

Question

I would like to log PHP errors on a CakePHP site that has debug = 0. However, even if I turn on the error log, like this:

error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_DEPRECATED
log_errors = On

it doesn't log errors.

The problem is that even for a parse error that should cause the CakePHP environment to not load completely (I think), it still blocks the error from being logged. If I set debug to 3, it logs to the file without issue.

I am using CakePHP 1.2. I know this is apparently made easier in 1.3, but I'm not ready to upgrade.

Answer 1

Another way to keep track of and log errors would be to use the Referee plugin as it provides a way to arbitrarily log and catch all (including fatal) errors that occur during exection.

Answer 2

define('LOG_ERROR', 2); in core.php

Answer 3

PHP should log errors to its own logfile, regardless of what CakePhp is doing.

Look in /etc/php.ini file (or wherever yours lives) and search for error_log. This will show you where the PHP log resides on your system.

Answer 4

There is a bug in CakePHP 1.2-1.3 where PHP errors/warnings are suppressed in view code when debugging is disabled.

In the file cake/libs/view/view.php on line #664 it reads

@include ($___viewFn);

But the @ directive suppresses errors for the entire view handler. Instead it should be:

include ($___viewFn);

Which allows PHP errors/warnings to be generated in view code and subsequently get logged. Once I changed this and had the right logging settings in core.php I was finally able to get complete logs in production.

Answer 5

Sometime the reason could be very different. For example the framework you are using may have its own internal caching module which keeps the value in buffer while you keep on trying. Check whether duplicate copies are getting generated or not. Typically those files would be named as filename.ext.r123 and so on.