The Logging Open Service Interface Definition (OSID) is an O.K.I. specification which supports a means of reading and writing log files. OSIDs are programmatic interfaces which comprise a Service Oriented Architecture for designing and building reusable and interoperable software.

Applications

Application software

Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...

 can use this service to record activity for a production system while implementations of other OSIDs can use the service to record detailed data during development, debugging

Debugging

Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge...

, or analyzing performance.

Many Logging implemenations are simply a cover for standard logging techniques such as syslog

Syslog

Syslog is a standard for computer data logging. It allows separation of the software that generates messages from the system that stores them and the software that reports and analyzes them...

 or log4j

Log4j

Apache log4j is a Java-based logging utility. It was originally written by Ceki Gülcü and is now a project of the Apache Software Foundation. log4j is one of several Java Logging Frameworks....

. The use of this OSID provides an easy way to replace the logging scheme or combine multiple schemes together into a federated pattern.