CakeLog and scope : Restricting scope to only one logger - cakephp

Question

I'd like to set a up log file so that only messages with a scope of soap get logged to that file. Conversely, I'd also like to prevent messages with a scope of soap being logged against the default logs of debug and error.
Here is my current setup in bootstrap.php.
CakeLog::config('soap', array(
'engine' => 'FileLog',
'types' => array('info','debug','error'),
'scopes' => array('soap'),
'file' => 'soap'
));
CakeLog::config('debug', array(
'engine' => 'FileLog',
'types' => array('notice', 'info', 'debug'),
'file' => 'debug',
));
CakeLog::config('error', array(
'engine' => 'FileLog',
'types' => array('warning', 'error', 'critical', 'alert', 'emergency'),
'file' => 'error',
));
Here is a snippet from one of my libs that makes soap calls.
CakeLog::debug("REQUEST:\n" . $client->__getLastRequest() . "\n", 'soap');
CakeLog::debug("RESPONSE:\n" . $client->__getLastResponse() . "\n", 'soap');
} catch (SoapFault $e) {
CakeLog::error(print_r($result,true), 'soap');
CakeLog::error('Exception: (' . $e->getCode() . ') ' . $e->getMessage(), 'soap');
if (isset($client)) {
CakeLog::error("Errored REQUEST:\n" . print_r($client->__getLastRequest(), true) . "\n", 'soap');
}
When I do this current set up, I get the debug soap messages in debug.log and soap.log, which is not desirable.

Answer 1

According CakeLog::config documentation
If you don't define any scopes an adapter will catch all scopes that match the handled levels.
so, debug logger write all messages with type 'types' => array('notice', 'info', 'debug'),
Now how you can avoid it? Seems you have 2 ways:
use CakeLog::write with custom error type
CakeLog::write('soap', "REQUEST:\n" . $client->__getLastRequest() . "\n");
in this case, according documentation of CakeLog::write method
integer|string $type
Type of message being written. When value is an integer or a string matching the recognized levels, then it will be treated log levels. Otherwise it's treated as scope.
scope and type will same and have 'soap' value, so, message will not logged in debug logger, but only in soap.
leave it as now, cause save all debug messages in one file and some messages in some specific logs not such bad idea.

Answer 2

A logger with no defined scopes will log all scopes, as is the case with the debug and error log configuration in the question.
To prevent the debug+error logs from containing soap messages, you'll need to defined explicitly what scopes they should act upon:
CakeLog::config('debug', array(
'engine' => 'FileLog',
'types' => array('notice', 'info', 'debug'),
// restrict to scope=type only
'scopes' => array('notice', 'info', 'debug'),
'file' => 'debug',
));
CakeLog::config('error', array(
'engine' => 'FileLog',
'types' => array('warning', 'error', 'critical', 'alert', 'emergency'),
// restrict to scope=type only
'scopes' => array('warning', 'error', 'critical', 'alert', 'emergency'),
'file' => 'error',
));
Cake does have a logging safety net so that if a log message has been filtered out completely (by what is effectively, bad config) it will at least be written to the default logger. So a call like this:
$this->log('special', 'foo');
will still be written to the foo log (with default config).
A debug log without all messages isn't a debug log
As answered by Vadim - it's not a bad idea to have a debug log with all log messages in it. This permits grepping a single file for information, instead of needing to look in several different files when things aren't quite going to plan in your application.

Answer 3

You can use CakeLog::disable('debug') and CakeLog::disable('error') to disable these two default log streams temporarily before CakeLog::write to 'soap'.
And don't forget to immediately restore by using CakeLog::enable('debug') and CakeLog::enable('error') after 'soap' log was written.
Sample:
CakeLog::debug('THIS MESSAGE WILL APPEAR IN debug.log and soap.log', 'soap');
CakeLog::disable('debug');
CakeLog::debug('THIS MESSAGE WILL NOT APPEAR IN debug.log but soap.log only', 'soap');
CakeLog::enable('debug');
CakeLog::debug('THIS MESSAGE WILL APPEAR IN debug.log and soap.log', 'soap');
CakeLog::disable