Add GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR env variable to control terminal color output by BhuvanB404 · Pull Request #792 · gazebosim/gz-common

BhuvanB404 · 2026-03-06T07:49:33Z

🎉 New feature

Closes #611

Summary

If the env variable is yes , the ANSI color codes are on for logging. When it is no, it disables ANSI colors

-- Testing GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR = yes ---
^[[32m(2026-03-06 13:16:01.402) [info] [test_color.cc:10] This is an info message
^[[m^[[33m^[[1m(2026-03-06 13:16:01.402) [warning] [test_color.cc:11] This is a warning message
^[[m^[[31m^[[1m(2026-03-06 13:16:01.402) [error] [test_color.cc:12] This is an error message

after turning the color_mode to no the outputs do not contain the asci color codes.

--- Testing GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR = no---
(2026-03-06 13:16:01.404) [info] [test_color.cc:10] This is an info message
(2026-03-06 13:16:01.404) [warning] [test_color.cc:11] This is a warning message
(2026-03-06 13:16:01.404) [error] [test_color.cc:12] This is an error message
(2026-03-06 13:16:01.404) [debug] [test_color.cc:13] This is a debug message

Need to add a logger wrapper in gz-utils to change the color_mode through sink. that is done in this pr -> gazebosim/gz-utils#205

Test it

Checklist

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a new environment variable (GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR) to control whether console log output includes ANSI color codes, addressing the need to disable unreadable escape sequences in CI consoles (issue #611).

Changes:

Read GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR during gz::common::Console::Init and set spdlog console color mode to always / never.
Emit a warning when GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR is set to an unrecognized value.
Document GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR in the repository README.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
src/Console.cc	Parses `GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR` and configures console sink color mode accordingly.
README.md	Documents how to use `GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR` to enable/disable color output.

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Copilot · 2026-03-06T07:54:13Z

+    if (value == "yes")
+    {
+      Console::Root().SetConsoleColorMode(spdlog::color_mode::always);
+    }
+    else if (value == "no")
+    {
+      Console::Root().SetConsoleColorMode(spdlog::color_mode::never);
+    }
+    else
+    {
+      Console::Root().RawLogger().log(spdlog::level::warn,
+        "Valid values are: yes, no.");


GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR only recognizes yes/no. The linked issue / common patterns in this repo suggest accepting additional boolean-style values (e.g., 0/1, true/false) and ideally auto (leave default behavior) to avoid surprising users who follow gtest-style env vars.

Suggested change

if (value == "yes")

{

Console::Root().SetConsoleColorMode(spdlog::color_mode::always);

}

else if (value == "no")

{

Console::Root().SetConsoleColorMode(spdlog::color_mode::never);

}

else

{

Console::Root().RawLogger().log(spdlog::level::warn,

"Valid values are: yes, no.");

if (value == "yes" || value == "true" || value == "1" || value == "on")

{

Console::Root().SetConsoleColorMode(spdlog::color_mode::always);

}

else if (value == "no" || value == "false" || value == "0" || value == "off")

{

Console::Root().SetConsoleColorMode(spdlog::color_mode::never);

}

else if (value == "auto")

{

// Leave console color mode at its default behavior.

}

else

{

Console::Root().RawLogger().log(spdlog::level::warn,

"GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR: valid values are: yes, no, true, false, 1, 0, on, off, auto.");

Is there a need to handle all cases? making it work for standard yes no should be fine I believe

Copilot · 2026-03-06T07:54:14Z

+
+* `yes`: always emit ANSI color codes.
+* `no`: never emit ANSI color codes.
+


README documents only yes/no, but the implementation is intended to address the broader “disable color output” use case (and the issue suggests gtest-like behavior). If you add support for 0/1 and/or auto, please document those here; otherwise consider explicitly stating that only yes/no are supported and that other values will be ignored with a warning.

Suggested change

Only the values `yes` and `no` are recognized; other values are ignored.

Exposes color_mode control on the console sink to allow callers to override spdlog's automatic color detection. Required by gazebosim/gz-common#792 Related: gazebosim/gz-common#611 Signed-off-by: BhuvanB <bhuvanb1408@gmail.com>

azeey

Thanks for the contribution @BhuvanB404! Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to your comment on #611. That issue was created while gz-common had it's own implementation of console logging. Now that we are using spdlog, our Jenkins logs do not contain the color codes (see https://build.osrfoundation.org/view/gz-jetty/job/gz_common-ci-gz-common7-noble-amd64/58/consoleText search for 1;31m).

However, we still have the problem on Harmonic (gz-common5) and Fortress (ign-common4) (see https://build.osrfoundation.org/view/gz-harmonic/job/gz_common-ci-gz-common5-noble-amd64/187/consoleText and search for 1;31m). So, could you please rework your PR to target gz-common5? Thanks!

…utput Signed-off-by: BhuvanB <bhuvanb1408@gmail.com>

BhuvanB404 · 2026-03-23T03:28:21Z

@azeey i have refactored it for gz-common 5 . the dco failure is for other contributes commits . its fine to leave it I guess?

the build is failing on PERFORMANCE_plugin_specialization test.

I am not sure its related to my changes

azeey

Thanks for the contribution! The PR looks good to me. I just have a couple of minor comments. Sorry for the long delay in reviewing it.

azeey · 2026-05-04T21:59:42Z


 Please refer to the [examples directory](https://github.com/gazebosim/gz-common/tree/main/examples).

+Console color output can be controlled with `GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR`:


The README is not the best place to put this information. You can instead place it in Console.hh so it shows up in the API docs https://gazebosim.org/api/common/5/classgz_1_1common_1_1Console.html#details

azeey · 2026-05-04T22:02:10Z

+#define CONSOLE_COLOR_ON 1
+#define CONSOLE_COLOR_OFF 0


Consider using an enum instead.

BhuvanB404 requested a review from marcoag as a code owner March 6, 2026 07:49

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 6, 2026 07:49

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azeey added this to Core development Mar 6, 2026

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Copilot started reviewing on behalf of BhuvanB404 March 6, 2026 07:50 View session

BhuvanB404 force-pushed the ANSI-color-output branch from 6d78a70 to 2a6538a Compare March 6, 2026 07:50

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BhuvanB404 mentioned this pull request Mar 6, 2026

Add SetConsoleColorMode to Logger gazebosim/gz-utils#205

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Add GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR environment variable to control terminal color o…

906cdd8

…utput Signed-off-by: BhuvanB <bhuvanb1408@gmail.com>

BhuvanB404 force-pushed the ANSI-color-output branch from 6d9eaf2 to 906cdd8 Compare March 23, 2026 03:03

BhuvanB404 changed the base branch from gz-common7 to gz-common5 March 23, 2026 03:04

azeey requested changes May 4, 2026

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Merge branch 'gz-common5' into ANSI-color-output

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Add GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR env variable to control terminal color output#792

Add GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR env variable to control terminal color output#792
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BhuvanB404 commented Mar 6, 2026 •

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		* `yes`: always emit ANSI color codes.
		* `no`: never emit ANSI color codes.



	Only the values `yes` and `no` are recognized; other values are ignored.


		Please refer to the [examples directory](https://github.com/gazebosim/gz-common/tree/main/examples).

		Console color output can be controlled with `GZ_CONSOLE_COLOR`:

		#define CONSOLE_COLOR_ON 1
		#define CONSOLE_COLOR_OFF 0

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BhuvanB404 commented Mar 6, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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🎉 New feature

Summary

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BhuvanB404 commented Mar 6, 2026 •

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