Unclear UX for disabling query logging

[kaysond]

As of Pi-hole Version v4.3.2 Web Interface Version v4.3.2 FTL Version v4.3.1, clicking the "Disable Query Logging" button on settings.php only disables logging to /var/log/pi-hole.log, but not the long term database. (I think; queries still show up in the Recent/Query Log and Long Term Data interfaces even though they're not in the file, so I'm assuming its the DB).

If I set the "DNS resolver privacy level" in settings.php?tab=privacy to "No Statistics Mode", then all query data disappears, but its still logged to the file. Fortunately in this case, a message indicates that file logging must be disabled separately.

The UX is a little unclear here. I expected "Disable Query Logging" to stop all query logging, both to the file and to the database/Query Log interfaces. I think if this button is just intended to disable logging to file, a more clear name would be nice, e.g. "Disable Query Logging to File".

Also, I would think that if you set the highest privacy level, it should not allow the queries to be logged to file to occur in any circumstance.

I'm guessing maybe the file logging toggle was initially added so you could disable it for benchmarking, and not for privacy, then the privacy settings were added later. At this point, though the settings may have had different initial purposes, they're now somewhat related. It would be nice if they could be grouped together.

One option could be:

• System Tab
  • Disable Logging (Disable query logging)
  • Disable Logging and Flush Logs (Disable query logging and flush logs)
  • Flush Logs
• Privacy Tab
  • Existing options as is
  • Don't log queries to pihole log file

The idea here is to sort of separate the "performance" option of disabling the log file from the "privacy" option of not logging queries to the file. The new button texts in the system tab are performance-oriented and indicate that all logging is disabled and all log entries are flushed. This would be slightly new functionality, but seems like it would be better for benchmarking anyways.

The new checkbox in the Privacy Tab just controls whether queries are logged or not, irrespective of the general logging setting. Selecting the highest privacy level should probably automatically check this box and flush the log files.

See also: pi-hole/pi-hole#2339

[DL6ER]

The UX is a little unclear here. I expected "Disable Query Logging" to stop all query logging, both to the file and to the database/Query Log interfaces.

When disabling the logging to the database, restarts of the DNS server pihole-FTL will cause all statistics to be reset completely. This is likely something where users would assume Pi-hole is broken.

Privacy level and file logging are handled by very different parts in the DNS server (even though that's not obvious from the outside), managing them together is a bit tricky.

Asking for more input from @pi-hole/api-approvers

[github-actions]

This issue is stale because it has been open 30 days with no activity. Please comment or update this issue or it will be closed in 5 days.

[yubiuser]

I think the OP made a point. "Disable query logging" does sound like "stopp storing any queries". Users normally don't care about the difference between logging to /var/log/pihole.log and the long-term database.