BqLog (BianQue Log) V 2.7.0

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BqLog is a lightweight, high-performance, industrial-grade logging system that has been widely used in online projects such as "Honor of Kings".

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💡 If you have the following pain points, try BqLog

• If your client product (especially games) wants to satisfy this "impossible triangle" at the same time:
  • Easy troubleshooting (log as much as possible)
  • Good performance (log as little as possible)
  • Save storage space (better not log at all)
• If you are a backend service developer and your current logging library cannot handle high-concurrency scenarios, causing log loss or application stalls.
• If your programming language is one of C++, Java, C#, Kotlin, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, or you use multiple languages at the same time and want a unified cross-language logging solution.

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🎯 What BqLog is for

Extreme speed is where BqLog starts, not where it stops. It is a mature, industrial-grade component, built for products that ship:

• Content to play a supporting role. On a modern machine a logging system should take as little of the system as it can. The logging threads and the consumer thread alike should use as little CPU, memory and disk I/O as possible. We do not optimize for benchmark scores; every optimization targets real use.
• Compatible everywhere it runs. Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony and the Unix family; C++, Java/Kotlin, C#, Python, TypeScript/ArkTS and Go sharing one core and even one log object; game engines, mobile toolchains without an STL, strict -Werror builds.
• Built for the bad day. Logs written before a crash are recovered after it; a full disk neither crashes nor hangs the app; corrupted files are recovered as far as possible; log files can be encrypted to protect privacy.
• Care about the coding experience. One line to create a log, one line to write; the internals stay as transparent as possible, without complicated configuration; every interface is friendly to IDE code completion; integration tools such as UE Blueprints are provided.

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📋 What's New in v2.7.0

• C++20 modules: import bq.log;, as an alternative to #include "bq_log/bq_log.h", with no change to the logging code.
• Macro-free fast log (C++20): log.fast_info<"...">(args...), the same speed as BQ_LOG_FAST_INFO with full IDE support, and usable with any log object. See API Reference — fast mode.
• Package managers: Homebrew, vcpkg and NuGet. See Integration Guide.
• Multi-process: several processes can share one log directory, each with its own crash recovery data.
• Bug fixes: fast mode, recovery, formatting, config parsing and the decoder, among others.

Warning

This release changes the ABI. Upgrade the headers (or language wrapper) and the library together.

Full changelog → CHANGELOG.md

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✨ Highlights

• Significant performance advantage over common open-source logging libraries (see Benchmark); suitable for server, client, and mobile.
• Low memory usage: in the Benchmark case (10 threads, 2,000,000 log entries each), the whole benchmark process peaks at no more than 3.1 MB on macOS. On mobile platforms, BqLog itself generally uses around 1 MB.
• Provides a high-performance, high-compression real-time compressed log format.
• Supports strong hybrid encryption (asymmetric + symmetric) for log content protection with nearly zero performance overhead (optional).
• Works well inside game engines (Unity, Unreal, etc.), with UE Blueprint and builtin data type support.
• Supports utf8, utf16, utf32 characters and strings, as well as bool, float, double, and integer types of various sizes.
• Supports C++20 std::format style format strings (without positional index and time formatting).
• Asynchronous logging supports crash recovery and tries to avoid data loss.
• On Java, C#, TypeScript wrappers, it can achieve "zero extra heap alloc" (or very close), avoiding continuous object allocations.
• Depends only on the standard C library and platform APIs; can be compiled with Android ANDROID_STL = none.
• Supports C++11 and later standards and works under very strict compiler options.
• Build system is based on CMake and provides multi-platform scripts, easy to integrate.
• Available through Homebrew, vcpkg and NuGet, with find_package / pkg-config support.
• Supports custom parameter types.
• Very friendly for code completion and IDE hints.

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🖥️ Supported platforms & languages

Platforms	Languages
Windows 64-bit, macOS, Linux (incl. embedded), iOS, Android, HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony, Unix (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, etc.)	C++ (C++11+), Java / Kotlin, C# (Unity, .NET), ArkTS / C++ (HarmonyOS & OpenHarmony share the same package), JavaScript / TypeScript (Node.js), Python 3.7+, Go, Unreal Engine (UE4, UE5 & UE6 development builds)

Hardware architectures: x86, x86_64, ARM32, ARM64 Integration methods: Dynamic library, Static library, Source code

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📦 Install

Ecosystem	Install	Library	CLI tools	Package page
Homebrew macOS · Linux	brew install bqlog	✅	✅	formulae.brew.sh
vcpkg Windows · Linux · macOS (port in review)	vcpkg install bqlog	✅	bqlog[tools]	vcpkg.io
NuGet C# · .NET · Unity	dotnet add package BqLog	✅	—	nuget.org
Maven Central — Java Java · Kotlin · server	implementation("com.tencent.bqlog:java:2.+")	✅	—	com.tencent.bqlog:java
Maven Central — Android Android · Kotlin	implementation("com.tencent.bqlog:android:2.+")	✅	—	com.tencent.bqlog:android
PyPI Python 3.7+	pip install bqlog	✅	—	pypi.org
npm Node.js · TypeScript	npm install @pippocao/bqlog	✅	—	npmjs.com
ohpm HarmonyOS · OpenHarmony	ohpm install bqlog	✅	—	ohpm.openharmony.cn
Go modules Go	go get github.com/Tencent/BqLog/go/v2@latest	✅	—	pkg.go.dev
Unity UPM tarball	Install package from tarball	✅	—	release page
Unreal Engine UE4 · UE5	copy into Plugins/	✅	—	release page · Fab

Important

Not in the table? iOS, tvOS and the other Apple platforms are integrated through Xcode or CMake instead of a package manager — start at iOS / Apple platforms. Embedded Linux, the BSD family and plain source builds are covered by the same Integration Guide and by the prebuilt archives on the release page.

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📖 Why is BqLog so fast? — a three-part series

BqLog's speed is not magic. This series derives the whole design step by step, with diagrams:

1. Part 1: High-Performance Realtime Compressed Log Format — from one line of text to a compressed format: templates, VLQ, UTF-Mixed, segments and encryption
2. Part 2: From Ring Buffer to Adaptive Data Bus — from kFifo and LMAX Disruptor to BqLog's adaptive bus: fetch_add + rollback, MISO/SISO, lock-free thread management and crash recovery
3. Part 3: Optimizing the Compressed Log Pipeline — how much work can share one memory load: fused copy+hash, template caches, length backfill, batched I/O

All diagrams and the series index live in Performance Design.

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🏗️ Architecture

Your program accesses the core engine through BqLog Wrapper (C++, Java, C#, TypeScript, Python, etc.). Each Log object can mount one or more Appenders (Console / Text File / Compressed File). Within the same process, Wrappers of different languages can access the same Log object.

Appender	Output	Readable	Performance	Size	Encryption
ConsoleAppender	Console	Yes	Low	-	No
TextFileAppender	File	Yes	Low	Large	No
CompressedFileAppender	File	No	High	Small	Yes

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🚀 Quick Start

Before calling any API, you need to integrate BqLog into your project first:

• Standard environments (C++, Java, C#, Python, Node.js, etc.) → Integration Guide
• Game engines (Unity, Tuanjie Engine, Unreal Engine) → Game Engine Integration Guide
• Anything else → FAQ

C++

#include <string>
#include <bq_log/bq_log.h>

int main() {
    std::string config = R"(
        appenders_config.appender_console.type=console
        appenders_config.appender_console.levels=[all]
    )";
    auto log = bq::log::create_log("main_log", config);
    log.info("Hello BqLog 2.0! int:{}, float:{}", 123, 3.14f);
    log.force_flush();
    return 0;
}

C++ only fast mode. On the hottest C++ paths, the BQ_LOG_FAST_* macros write the same log entry for a fraction of the cost on the calling thread. Details in API Reference — fast mode.

BQ_LOG_FAST_INFO(log, "Hello BqLog fast mode! int:{}, float:{}", 123, 3.14f);
log.fast_info<"Hello BqLog fast mode! int:{}, float:{}">(123, 3.14f);  // C++20, the only form with import bq.log;

The output is identical to log.info. The price: a little more memory. A macro call site also binds the log object and format string of its first call, so keep one log object per macro call site; fast_info<...> has no such limit.

Java

String config = """
    appenders_config.console.type=console
    appenders_config.console.levels=[all]
""";
bq.log.Log log = bq.log.Log.createLog("java_log", config);
log.info("Hello Java! value: {}", 3.14);

C#

string config = @"
    appenders_config.console.type=console
    appenders_config.console.levels=[all]
";
var log = bq.log.create_log("cs_log", config);
log.info("Hello C#! value:{}", 42);

TypeScript (Node.js)

import { bq } from "@pippocao/bqlog";
const config = `
    appenders_config.console.type=console
    appenders_config.console.levels=[all]
`;
const log = bq.log.create_log("node_log", config);
log.info("Hello from Node.js! params: {}, {}", "text", 123);
bq.log.force_flush_all_logs();

Python

from bq.log import log
config = """
    appenders_config.console.type=console
    appenders_config.console.levels=[all]
"""
my_log = log.create_log("python_log", config)
my_log.info("Hello from Python! params: {}, {}", "text", 123)
log.force_flush_all_logs()

Go

package main

import bq "github.com/Tencent/BqLog/go/v2"

func main() {
    config := `
appenders_config.console.type=console
appenders_config.console.levels=[all]
`
    log := bq.Create_log("go_log", config, nil)
    if !log.Is_valid() {
        panic("invalid log config")
    }
    defer log.Force_flush()

    log.Info("Hello from Go! params: {}, {}", "text", 123)
}

TypeScript (HarmonyOS / OpenHarmony ArkTS)

The same bqlog package on ohpm works for both HarmonyOS (NEXT) and OpenHarmony (4.1+ / API 11+). Same install, same import, same code.

import { bq } from "bqlog";
const config = `
    appenders_config.console.type=console
    appenders_config.console.levels=[all]
`;
const log = bq.log.create_log("ohos_log", config);
log.info("Hello from HarmonyOS / OpenHarmony! params: {}, {}", "text", 123);
bq.log.force_flush_all_logs();

For full integration steps for all platforms, see Integration Guide and Game Engine Integration Guide.

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📊 Benchmark results

Logging is not the core of an application, and a logger that takes a lot of CPU or memory is not good enough. So the benchmark measures the total cost on realistic workloads: the time to get every entry onto disk, together with the CPU and memory spent on it; it also measures the latency of a single call on the logging thread. Test cases and full data: Benchmark.

Throughput, 4 parameters, macOS (Apple M4 Pro). 2,000,000 entries per thread, timed until everything is on disk; every library uses fixed size buffers that block when full; BqLog in C++ fast mode:

	1 Thread	4 Threads	10 Threads
BqLog, compressed	39 ms / CPU 76 ms	148 ms / CPU 734 ms	375 ms / CPU 3984 ms
BqLog, text	152 ms / CPU 303 ms	617 ms / CPU 3047 ms	1548 ms / CPU 16307 ms
quill	331 ms / CPU 493 ms	1517 ms / CPU 4697 ms	4338 ms / CPU 29048 ms
fmtlog	254 ms / CPU 475 ms	1089 ms / CPU 5310 ms	2982 ms / CPU 32093 ms
Log4j2 (Java)	665 ms / CPU 2810 ms	1872 ms / CPU 9206 ms	3754 ms / CPU 19383 ms
spdlog (async)	535 ms / CPU 966 ms	6758 ms / CPU 20142 ms	-
glog (synchronous)	2322 ms / CPU 2318 ms	9929 ms / CPU 30661 ms	-

• BqLog's compressed format takes several times less total time and CPU than every other logging library of its kind.
• Peak memory: BqLog stays within 3.1 MB at 10 threads.
• With growing buffers, against a queue that grows as well, BqLog is 2 to 8 times faster, with less CPU time and about half the peak memory.
• Latency of a single call on the logging thread: BqLog is in the lowest tier of the libraries measured (1 thread: p50 4 ns, p99 29 ns).

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🔄 Changes from 1.x to 2.x

1. Added HarmonyOS support, including ArkTS and C++.
2. Added Node.js support (CJS and ESM).
3. Improved cross-platform compatibility, stability and generality; supports more Unix systems.
4. Average performance improved by ~80% for UTF-8, and by >500% for UTF-16 environments (C#, Unreal, Unity).
5. Android no longer must be used together with Java.
6. Removed the is_in_sandbox config and replaced it with base_dir_type; added filters for snapshots and support for opening a new log file on each startup. See Configuration.
7. Added high-performance hybrid asymmetric encryption, almost zero overhead; see Advanced Usage — Encryption.
8. Provides Unity, Tuanjie Engine, and Unreal Engine plugins, making it easy to use in game engines; the Unreal plugin supports UE4, UE5, and current UE6 development builds, with ConsoleAppender redirection and Blueprint support. UE4/UE5 packages are also published on Fab, while UE6 packages are available from GitHub Releases only. See Game Engine Integration Guide.
9. The repository no longer ships binaries. From 2.x on, please download platform- and language-specific packages from the Releases page.
10. The size of a single log entry is not limited by log.buffer_size anymore;
11. The timezone can be specified manually.
12. The raw_file appender has been removed. An appender configured with type=raw_file is ignored with a warning; please use the compressed_file appender instead.
13. The Recovery feature's reliability has been improved and it has been promoted from experimental (beta) to stable (release). see Advanced Usage — Data Protection.

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📑 Documentation

Document	Description
Development Guidelines	Coding rules for contributors
FAQ	Common questions: comparisons, platforms, distribution channels, crash recovery
Integration Guide	Full integration steps for all platforms + all language demos
Game Engine Integration	Unity, Tuanjie Engine, Unreal Engine plugins and Blueprint usage
API Reference	Core APIs, sync/async logging, Appender overview, build & tools
Configuration	Full configuration reference (appenders, log, snapshot)
Advanced Usage	No Heap Alloc, Category, crash recovery, custom types, encryption
Benchmark	Benchmark code, methodology, and results
Performance Design	Compressed file format, adaptive data bus, and write-path optimizations

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🤝 How to contribute

Please read the Development Guidelines first.

If you want to contribute code, please make sure your changes can pass the following workflows under GitHub Actions in the repository:

• AutoTest
• Build

It is recommended to run corresponding scripts locally before submitting to ensure both testing and building pass normally.