What is the best way to inject a logger?

I’m working on several projects right now that I’d like to be able to generate logs from. #

The problem is that logging isn’t required for the code to work, so how do I configure it? #

I see three possibilities: #

Required in Constructor #

use Psr\Log\LoggerInterface;
class MyClass {
	private $logger;
	public function __construct(LoggerInterface $logger) {
		$this->logger = $logger;
	}
}

Pros #

• Cleanest implementation #

Cons #

• Requires user to pass in a logger even if they don’t want to log anything #

Optional in Constructor #

use Psr\Log\LoggerInterface;
use Psr\Log\NullLogger;
class MyClass {
	private $logger;
	public function __construct(LoggerInterface $logger = null) {
		if (is_null($logger)) {
			$logger = new NullLogger();
		}
		$this->logger = $logger;
	}
}

Pros #

• No longer requires the user to pass in a logger #

Cons #

• Clutters up the constructor #
• I consider using null a code smell #

Optional setLogger Method #

use Psr\Log\LoggerInterface;
use Psr\Log\NullLogger;
class MyClass {
	private $logger;
	public function __construct() {
		$this->logger = new NullLogger();
	}
	public function setLogger(LoggerInterface $logger) {
		$this->logger = $logger;
	}
}

Pros #

• Clean constructor #
• No nulls #

Cons #

• Instantiating with a logger requires two statements #

Summary #

I’m leaning toward the third method for my packages even though it doesn’t feel like an ideal solution. It just feels better than the other two. #

How are you handling injecting an optional logger? Let me know in the comments. #