Troubleshooting using log files

You can enable logging for IBM Z Open Editor to produce detailed logs that can be used to troubleshoot problems. Logs can be valuable inputs when you file defects or contact technical support (if you are entitled to it). You can enable logging via a user preference setting called zopeneditor.logger. In the VS Code Preferences editor, select from the allowed log levels: DEBUG, INFO (default), WARNING, ERROR and OFF.

Once logging is enabled, you can find the logging output in two places:

  • In the VS Code Output panel, by selecting IBM Z Open Editor from the drop-down.

  • A log file written to your disk. More details on the logs for IBM Z Open Editor and its integrations can be found further below.

If you use IBM Z Open Editor with Eclipse Che or Red Hat® CodeReady Workspaces, you can also enable logging by specifying the same user preference setting, zopeneditor.logger. To find the generated log file, open a Terminal window in the container called ibm-wazi???, with the question marks being replaced by randomly generated characters. Do not mistake that with the default user content container called wazi, which you use for coding.

Finding versions of all VS Code extensions installed

  1. Ensure that your IBM Z Open Editor logger preference is set to DEBUG.

  2. In the Output console window, select IBM Z Open Editor from the drop down list. The following information will be listed:

    • IBM Z Open Editor version

    • Editor platform and version

    • Editor Installation information

    • Java™ SDK configuration location and memory allocation

    • Key user settings

    • Zowe™ Explorer VS Code Extension version

    • Other VS Code Extensions visible

    CRW Log Info

Locating VS Code extension and LSP log files on the local client

Log type Location
Main log The location is specified in output console window on 2nd line. ** The log file is available at...
  • Windows example: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Code\logs\20200921T153526\exthost1\IBM.zopeneditor\zopeneditor-1-1-0.log
  • Mac example: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Code/logs/20200928T093225/exthost5/IBM.zopeneditor/zopeneditor-1-1-0.log
Language Server Protocol (LSP) log Find the line that begins with the following sentence to locate the LSP logs: ** ZLanguageServer: Will start a language server with command... Then, find the -data, tag which immediately precedes the LSP log file location.
  • Windows example: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\_ws_<id>\.metadata/.log
  • Mac example: /var/folders/sr/qztfyx3d39z50jgl50ls_b0r0000gn/T/_ws_<id>/.metadata/.log
Zowe Explorer log
  • Windows example: C:\Users\username\.vscode\extensions\zowe.vscode-extension-for-zowe-1.9.0\logs
  • Mac example: /Users/username/.vscode/extensions/zowe.vscode-extension-for-zowe-1.9.0/logs
RSE API plug-in for Zowe CLI (RSE CLI plug-in) logs Log files can be found in two locations:
  • ~\.zowe\zowe\logs\
  • ~\.zowe\imperative\logs\
Z Open Debug log
Log files can be found in the user's home directory. To extract the location of the log path, complete the followings steps:
  1. In the Z Open Debug Profiles view, open the Developer Tools window by selecting View > Command Palette > Developer: Toggle Developer Tools.
  2. On the Console tab of the Developer Tools window, search for the location of the storage folder. For example, you can find log like [Extension Host] INFORMATION: Storage folder created at C:\Users\Administrator\.debug.
    • Windows example: C:\Users\USER_NAME\.debug
    • Mac example: /Users/USER_NAME/.debug/

Finding Zowe CLI version and RSE CLI plug-in version

In the VS Code Terminal window, enter the applicable commands:

  • Command for Zowe CLI: zowe --version

  • Command for RSE CLI plug-in: zowe plugins list

Log levels

IBM Z Open Editor uses the log levels described in the following chart. These levels are listed in order of most to least detailed (with the exception of OFF, which turns off all logging). For example, the DEBUG setting will output detailed debug information, as well as messages from the other levels below it: INFO, WARN, and ERROR. In contrast, the ERROR setting will only log important errors.

Log level Description
Debug Identifies detailed informational events that are useful for troubleshooting the editor's behavior.
Info Provides informative messages that are of general interest to the end user for observing activities performed by the editor.
Warn Indicates potentially problematic situations that could cause unexpected behaviors or errors.
Error Designates error events that interrupted the editor in executing an operation as intended.
Off Nothing is logged.