Support for non-unique process labels?

[Loïc Hoguin]

What you want is to be able to either:

* register processes using any term and not just atoms
* have garbage collectable atoms

That way Observer will always show the proper name.

Then for logs all you need is for <0.2555.0> to be identified at some 
point (in other logs with its registered name + pid for example). Or 
hook into logger as others have pointed out.

GC atoms has long been on the wishlist of many people:

* https://www.erlang.org/erlang-enhancement-proposals/eep-0020.html
* https://github.com/nox/otp/commit/bf3334c1d2c0e404abaec72a985134def158afcf

It would be fantastic if this could get traction.

Cheers,

On 06/05/2021 16:06, Nathan Long wrote:
> Is there a way to add a non-unique label to a process? If not, I would 
> like to propose that it be added.
> 
> The label could be shown with or instead of a PID. I think this would be 
> useful in at least two areas.
> 
> First, when observing a running system, the PID is not descriptive. I 
> have Observer open right now looking at part of my system, and I can see 
> one globally registered process name displayed, but everything else is a 
> PID. What are those processes? I might be able to figure it out by 
> clicking the process and seeing what its initial call was, but often I 
> can tell is "it's a GenServer." The structure of the system would be 
> much more apparent if I saw labels like "db_connection" or 
> "request_queue_worker".
> 
> Second, when reading error messages in logs or an exception tracker, the 
> PID is not useful. For example, I'm looking at an error in Sentry right 
> now that says "Sentry.CrashError error ** (exit) 'stopping because 
> dependent process <0.2255.0> died: killed'". I have no idea what 
> `<0.2555.0>` was, so I don't know what to debug.
> 
> Does this exist or would others support it being added to the BEAM?
> 
> -- Nathan

-- 
Loïc Hoguin
https://ninenines.eu