Documentation for caplog set_level() should make it clearer it's a threshold

[MetRonnie]

What's the problem this feature will solve?

The documentation for caplog.set_level() says

Set the level of a logger for the duration of a test.

This does not make it clear that it's setting the threshold level for capturing logging.

Describe the solution you'd like

The Python logging documentation makes this clear for logging.setLevel():

Sets the threshold for this logger to level. Logging messages which are less severe than level will be ignored; ...

caplog.set_level() ought to do the same.

Additional context

The only reason I know it's a threshold is because I tried running pytest -rA with different levels set in caplog and the output contained messages at that level and above

[nicoddemus]

Thanks @MetRonnie for the detailed report.

Would you like to contribute that change?

[MetRonnie]

Happy to, will open a PR from my non-work account

[Vijay-Arora]

Hey @nicoddemus and @MetRonnie, I am new to contributing to open source and I'm looking for a good first issue. Could you please kindly guide me if I can pick up this or any issue which you think might be useful for me to start with?
Thanks in advance!

[nicoddemus]

Thanks @MetRonnie and @Vijay-Arora.

Just need to update the docstring at:

pytest/src/_pytest/logging.py

Lines 449 to 458 in f65dfc3

	def set_level(self, level: Union[int, str], logger: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
	"""Set the level of a logger for the duration of a test.
	.. versionchanged:: 3.4
	The levels of the loggers changed by this function will be
	restored to their initial values at the end of the test.
	:param int level: The level.
	:param str logger: The logger to update. If not given, the root logger.
	"""

[Vijay-Arora]

Hey @nicoddemus and @MetRonnie, I did it! As it's my first time, let me know in case any change is required.

[Vijay-Arora]

Also @nicoddemus, I first forked it and then contributed; I was wondering if we can directly open a PR without forking and creating our own branch in this repository itself? Is that allowed?

[nicoddemus]

I was wondering if we can directly open a PR without forking and creating our own branch in this repository itself? Is that allowed?

Only for project contributors (as there are security concerns to let anyone commit to the repository).

[nicoddemus]

Also I don't see a PR? You might have just pushed that branch to a fork, but you need to open a Pull Request. Consult GitHub's help for more information. 👍

[Vijay-Arora]

Oh okay. Thanks for the quick response, @nicoddemus!

[Vijay-Arora]

Also I don't see a PR? You might have just pushed that branch to a fork, but you need to open a Pull Request. Consult GitHub's help for more information. 👍

Hmm, okay, thanks for the heads up! Will update here as soon as I see how to make that work.

[Vijay-Arora]

Hey @nicoddemus, I added a PR; it's visible now but i think i missed some of the points. Could you please take a look at it and give me some feedback on it?
Thanks!

[kushagrabhushan]

Hello @Vijay-Arora @nicoddemus @MetRonnie! I am also just getting started with open-source and wanted to start contributing. I just had a question whether this issue is currently open or has it been closed?

[MetRonnie]

@kushagrabhushan This is still open but there is already a pull request #9149 to close it (you can see this in the "Linked pull requests" section in the sidebar at the top)

[Vijay-Arora]

@kushagrabhushan, I'm actively working on it, I'll be picking this up from where I left this on Friday.

[DaveParr]

Is this still needing action and able to be acted on?

I'm looking to get invoolved in hacktoberfest 2022, and this issue is now a year old. FWIW I understand from the users persepective how pytest works and how the caplog process can be utilised in tests.

[tuhinmallick]

Is this issue still open, if yes i would like to work on it

[nicoddemus]

@Vijay-Arora was working on it it seems.