Asynchronous error_logger:error_msg considered harmful?

[Olivier BOUDEVILLE]

Hello,

When displaying a message with error_logger:error_msg/2, apparently this 
is done asynchronously, the call returns before the message is actually 
displayed in the console. 
As a result, if in the next few instructions the VM is halted (these two 
events must be often correlated), there is a race condition between the 
displaying and the halting: sometimes the message shows up, sometimes not.

Short of knowing a better solution, this was one of the very few places 
where a timer:sleep/1 call helped me, despite this is never a satisfying 
solution. And indeed it led to hiding a second race condition, this time 
in my code, which was difficult to track because of this awkward delay.

Apparently there could be a better solution based on the use of 
sys:get_status(error_logger) which could allow to wait just the duration 
needed until the operation is done, thus allowing somewhat to emulate a 
synchronous error_logger:error_msg/2 (I have not figured out yet out to 
use it properly).

I was wanting to advertise a bit this solution as it seems not very 
well-known. Besides, for error messages, wouldn't it be safer to be 
synchronous at the first place?

Best regards,

Olivier Boudeville.
---------------------------
Olivier Boudeville

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