BurntSushi/ripgrep · error

failed to initialize logger: {err}

Error message

failed to initialize logger: {err}

What it means

Error "failed to initialize logger: {err}" thrown in BurntSushi/ripgrep.

Source

Thrown at crates/core/flags/parse.rs:66

/// Parse CLI arguments and convert then to their high level representation.
pub(crate) fn parse() -> ParseResult<HiArgs> {
    parse_low().and_then(|low| match HiArgs::from_low_args(low) {
        Ok(hi) => ParseResult::Ok(hi),
        Err(err) => ParseResult::Err(err),
    })
}

/// Parse CLI arguments only into their low level representation.
///
/// This takes configuration into account. That is, it will try to read
/// `RIPGREP_CONFIG_PATH` and prepend any arguments found there to the
/// arguments passed to this process.
///
/// This will also set one-time global state flags, such as the log level and
/// whether messages should be printed.
fn parse_low() -> ParseResult<LowArgs> {
    if let Err(err) = crate::logger::Logger::init() {
        let err = anyhow::anyhow!("failed to initialize logger: {err}");
        return ParseResult::Err(err);
    }

    let parser = Parser::new();
    let mut low = LowArgs::default();
    if let Err(err) = parser.parse(std::env::args_os().skip(1), &mut low) {
        return ParseResult::Err(err);
    }
    // Even though we haven't parsed the config file yet (assuming it exists),
    // we can still use the arguments given on the CLI to setup ripgrep's
    // logging preferences. Even if the config file changes them in some way,
    // it's really the best we can do. This way, for example, folks can pass
    // `--trace` and see any messages logged during config file parsing.
    set_log_levels(&low);
    // Before we try to take configuration into account, we can bail early
    // if a special mode was enabled. This is basically only for version and
    // help output which shouldn't be impacted by extra configuration.
    if let Some(special) = low.special.take() {

View on GitHub (pinned to 3fce3b5bb0)

Solutions

1. Check the underlying logger error shown in the message
2. Simplify or remove custom logging configuration (e.g. RUST_LOG) that may be invalid

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/core/flags/parse.rs:66 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of BurntSushi/ripgrep@3fce3b5bb0 (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/da0627c82ce436f0.json. Report an issue: GitHub.