#16733 Verbose undistinguished --stats-log=true counters (as found in CI configs) output can hide nearby messages Issue created by huonw Describe the bug We're onboarding new people to use our pants tooling, and one rough edge is that CI runs with

[stats].log = true

configured, which is helpful for experienced users to reference occasionally, but is usually just noise, and especially so for new users. This logging output can end up jammed up against other real/relevant output of the tool, and thus someone scanning for messages can easily miss it. For example, the first thing CI usually does is

./pants tailor --check

, and the output when there's something missing looks like:

Would update BUILD:
  - Add python_sources target root

To fix `tailor` failures, run `./pants tailor`.
10:05:26.27 [INFO] Counters:
  backtrack_attempts: 0
  local_cache_read_errors: 0
  local_cache_requests: 0
  local_cache_requests_cached: 0
...

Colored: It's easy to miss the prompt to run

./pants tailor

. Someone new to using pants wouldn't be aware of

./pants tailor

as a thing, and someone more experienced can still benefit from the clear reminder. This issue is a bit squishy/not-really-concrete bug, but I think there's some potential ways to improve this: • tweak the styling of debug-style logging like this counters output (automatically applies across all such messages in CI): • more spacing around debug-style logging • use colours to deemphasise it, e.g. 'fade' it by setting the colour to grey • use colours more in messages (requires updating individual messages, of which an intro command like

./pants tailor

is potentially a single high-value example and similarly for

update-build-files

), e.g.: • add a

help

heading: `` help: to fix

tailor

failures, run ... `` prompt similar to rustc, and the heading can be emphasised • add colours within the "To fix ..." line itself • another way to get the benefit of the

[stats].log = true

when required, without pessimising the common case: is it possible to write only to

pants.log

? For instance, as a sketch: Pants version • 2.12.0 • 2.14.0a0 OS macOS, linux Additional info Add any other information about the problem here, such as attachments or links to gists, if relevant. pantsbuild/pants