refactor internally a little to clean up the code. Make the main example a real example so we make sure it compiles

README.md

@@ -11,22 +11,26 @@ to which logs are written.
 Lumberjack plays well with any logger that can write to an io.Writer,
 including the standard library's log package.
 
-For example, to use lumberjack with the std lib's log package, just pass it
-into the SetOutput function when your application starts:
-
-
-	log.SetOutput(&lumberjack.Logger{
-	    Dir: "/var/log/myapp/"
-	    NameFormat: time.RFC822+".log",
-	    MaxSize: lumberjack.Gigabyte,
-	    MaxBackups: 3,
-	    MaxAge: lumberjack.Week * 4,
-	))
-
 Lumberjack assumes that only one process is writing to the output files.
 Using the same lumberjack configuration from multiple processes on the same
 machine will result in improper behavior.
 
+#### Example
+
+To use lumberjack with the standard library's log package, just pass it into the
+SetOutput function when your application starts.
+
+Code:
+
+```go
+log.SetOutput(&lumberjack.Logger{
+    Dir:        "/var/log/myapp/",
+    NameFormat: time.RFC822 + ".log",
+    MaxSize:    lumberjack.Gigabyte,
+    MaxBackups: 3,
+    MaxAge:     lumberjack.Week * 4,
+})
+```
 
 
 

example_test.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/signal"
 	"syscall"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/natefinch/lumberjack"
 )
@@ -25,3 +26,15 @@ func ExampleLogger_Rotate() {
 		}
 	}()
 }
+
+// To use lumberjack with the standard library's log package, just pass it into
+// the SetOutput function when your application starts.
+func Example() {
+	log.SetOutput(&lumberjack.Logger{
+		Dir:        "/var/log/myapp/",
+		NameFormat: time.RFC822 + ".log",
+		MaxSize:    lumberjack.Gigabyte,
+		MaxBackups: 3,
+		MaxAge:     lumberjack.Week * 4,
+	})
+}

lumberjack.go

@@ -8,17 +8,6 @@
 // Lumberjack plays well with any logger that can write to an io.Writer,
 // including the standard library's log package.
 //
-// For example, to use lumberjack with the std lib's log package, just pass it
-// into the SetOutput function when your application starts:
-//
-//   log.SetOutput(&lumberjack.Logger{
-//       Dir: "/var/log/myapp/"
-//       NameFormat: time.RFC822+".log",
-//       MaxSize: lumberjack.Gigabyte,
-//       MaxBackups: 3,
-//       MaxAge: lumberjack.Week * 4,
-//   ))
-//
 // Lumberjack assumes that only one process is writing to the output files.
 // Using the same lumberjack configuration from multiple processes on the same
 // machine will result in improper behavior.
@@ -123,51 +112,46 @@ var currentTime = time.Now
 func (l *Logger) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 	l.mu.Lock()
 	defer l.mu.Unlock()
+
 	writeLen := int64(len(p))
 	if writeLen > l.max() {
 		return 0, fmt.Errorf(
 			"write length %d exceeds maximum file size %d", writeLen, l.max(),
 		)
 	}
-	f := l.file
+	if l.size+writeLen > l.max() {
-	rotate := l.size+writeLen > l.max()
+		if err := l.rotate(); err != nil {
-	if f == nil {
-		if f, err = l.openExistingOrNew(len(p)); err != nil {
 			return 0, err
 		}
-	} else if rotate {
+	}
-		if f, err = l.openNew(); err != nil {
+	if l.file == nil {
+		if err = l.openExistingOrNew(len(p)); err != nil {
 			return 0, err
 		}
 	}
 
-	n, err = f.Write(p)
+	n, err = l.file.Write(p)
 	l.size += int64(n)
 
-	if l.file != nil && rotate {
-		l.file.Close()
-	}
-	l.file = f
-
-	if rotate {
-		if err := l.cleanup(); err != nil {
-			return 0, err
-		}
-	}
-
 	return n, err
 }
 
 // Close implements io.Closer, and closes the current logfile.
 func (l *Logger) Close() error {
 	l.mu.Lock()
-	defer l.mu.Unlock()
+	err := l.close()
-	if l.file != nil {
+	l.mu.Unlock()
-		err := l.file.Close()
+	return err
-		l.file = nil
+}
-		return err
+
+// close closes the file if it is open.
+func (l *Logger) close() error {
+	if l.file == nil {
+		return nil
 	}
-	return nil
+	err := l.file.Close()
+	l.file = nil
+	return err
 }
 
 // Rotate causes Logger to close the existing log file and immediately create a
@@ -177,47 +161,49 @@ func (l *Logger) Close() error {
 // to the normal rules.
 func (l *Logger) Rotate() error {
 	l.mu.Lock()
-	defer l.mu.Unlock()
+	err := l.rotate()
-	if l.file != nil {
+	l.mu.Unlock()
-		if err := l.file.Close(); err != nil {
+	return err
-			return err
+}
-		}
+
-		l.file = nil
+// rotate closes the current file, if any, opens a new file, and then calls
+// cleanup.
+func (l *Logger) rotate() error {
+	if err := l.close(); err != nil {
+		return nil
 	}
-	var err error
+	if err := l.openNew(); err != nil {
-	l.file, err = l.openNew()
-	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	return l.cleanup()
 }
 
 // openNew opens a new log file for writing.
-func (l *Logger) openNew() (*os.File, error) {
+func (l *Logger) openNew() error {
 	err := os.MkdirAll(l.dir(), 0744)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't make directories for new logfile: %s", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("can't make directories for new logfile: %s", err)
 	}
-	filename := l.genFilename()
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(l.genFilename(), os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0644)
-	f, err := os.OpenFile(filename, os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0644)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't open new logfile: %s", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("can't open new logfile: %s", err)
 	}
 	info, err := f.Stat()
 	if err != nil {
 		// can't really do anything if close fails here
 		_ = f.Close()
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't get size of new logfile: %s", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("can't get size of new logfile: %s", err)
 	}
 	l.size = info.Size()
-	return f, nil
+	l.file = f
+	return nil
 }
 
 // openExistingOrNew opens the most recently modified logfile in the log
 // directory, if the current write would not put it over MaxSize.  If there is
 // no such file or the write would put it over the MaxSize, a new file is
 // created.
-func (l *Logger) openExistingOrNew(writeLen int) (*os.File, error) {
+func (l *Logger) openExistingOrNew(writeLen int) error {
 	if l.Dir == "" && l.NameFormat == "" {
 		return l.openNew()
 	}
@@ -226,25 +212,26 @@ func (l *Logger) openExistingOrNew(writeLen int) (*os.File, error) {
 		return l.openNew()
 	}
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't read files in log file directory: %s", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("can't read files in log file directory: %s", err)
 	}
 	sort.Sort(byFormatTime{files, l.format()})
-	for _, f := range files {
+	for _, info := range files {
-		if f.IsDir() {
+		if info.IsDir() {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if !l.isLogFile(f) {
+		if !l.isLogFile(info) {
 			continue
 		}
 
 		// the first file we find that matches our pattern will be the most
 		// recently modified log file.
-		if f.Size()+int64(writeLen) < l.max() {
+		if info.Size()+int64(writeLen) < l.max() {
-			filename := filepath.Join(l.dir(), f.Name())
+			filename := filepath.Join(l.dir(), info.Name())
 			file, err := os.OpenFile(filename, os.O_APPEND|os.O_WRONLY, 0644)
 			if err == nil {
-				return file, nil
+				l.file = file
+				return nil
 			}
 			// if we fail to open the old log file for some reason, just ignore
 			// it and open a new log file.