Updated my error log functionality to go to an error.log file instead of to the console.

.env

@@ -1,2 +1,8 @@
-DB_PATH=/home/rapturate/Code/cpp/parselog_cli/data/GeoLite2-City.mmdb
-LOG_PATH=/home/rapturate/Code/cpp/parselog_cli/test_logs/access.log.txt
+# ParseLogCLI Global Environment Configuration
+# Generated on 2026-06-09
+
+# Path to the MaxMind GeoLite2 City Database binary
+DB_PATH=data/GeoLite2-City.mmdb
+
+# Absolute or relative path to the server access logs target file
+LOG_PATH=test_logs/access.log.txt

.gitignore

@@ -46,5 +46,5 @@ compile_commands.json
 # ==========================================
 # Sensitive Files
 # ==========================================
-.env
+*.env
 .env

ip_to_geo/ip_to_geo.cpp

@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 
 #include <exception>
-#include <iostream>
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <map>
 #include <string>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <filesystem>
+#include <chrono>
+#include <iomanip>
 
 
 #include "ip_to_geo.hpp"
@@ -13,6 +16,20 @@ loc_data iplookup(const std::string& ip) {
     const char* env_db_path = std::getenv("DB_PATH");
     std::string db_path = (env_db_path != nullptr) ? env_db_path : "data/GeoLite2-City.mmdb";
 
+    // Verify if the database file physically exists on the disk
+    if (!std::filesystem::exists(db_path)) {
+        std::ofstream error_file("error.log", std::ios::app);
+        if (error_file.is_open()) {
+            auto now = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+            std::time_t now_time = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(now);
+            
+            error_file << "[" << std::put_time(std::localtime(&now_time), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") << "] "
+                       << "Error: Database file missing at path: " << db_path << " during IP lookup for: " << ip << std::endl;
+            error_file.close();
+        }
+        
+        return loc_data{}; 
+    }
 
     loc_data location;
 
@@ -26,7 +43,17 @@ loc_data iplookup(const std::string& ip) {
         location.longitude = geo_data["longitude"];
     }
     catch (const std::exception& e) {
-        //std::cerr << "Database failed to load: " << e.what() << std::endl;
+        std::ofstream error_file("error.log", std::ios::app);
+        if (error_file.is_open()) {
+            auto now = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+            std::time_t now_time = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(now);
+
+            error_file << "[" << std::put_time(std::localtime(&now_time), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") << "] "
+                    << "Database failed to load: " << e.what() << std::endl;
+                   
+            error_file.close();
+        }
     }
+
     return location;
 };

log_parsing/log_parsing.cpp

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 #include <iostream>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <ostream>
+#include <chrono>
+#include <iomanip>
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 #include <regex>
@@ -15,7 +17,16 @@ p_logs::p_logs(std::string log_path) {
     }
     std::ifstream file(log_path);
     if (!file.is_open()) {
-         std::cerr << "Error loading " << log_path << std::endl;
+         std::ofstream error_file("error.log", std::ios::app);
+        if (error_file.is_open()) {
+            auto now = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+            std::time_t now_time = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(now);
+
+            error_file << "[" << std::put_time(std::localtime(&now_time), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") << "] "
+                    << "Log file failed to load at: " << log_path << std::endl;
+                   
+            error_file.close();
+        }
         return;
     }