[CT-2320] [Regression] [v1.5] dbt list no longer suppresses info-level logging

[jtcohen6]

Is this a regression in a recent version of dbt-core?

• I believe this is a regression in dbt-core functionality
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this regression

Current Behavior

Using latest beta / main branch:

$ dbt ls
13:47:10  Running with dbt=1.5.0-b4
13:47:10  Unable to do partial parsing because of a version mismatch
13:47:11  Found 2 models, 0 tests, 0 snapshots, 0 analyses, 310 macros, 0 operations, 1 seed file, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics, 1 group
test.subdir.another_model
test.my_model
test.my_seed
(env) 14:47:11 ~/d

Expected/Previous Behavior

v1.4.x:

$ dbt ls
test.subdir.another_model
test.my_model
test.my_seed

This is nice because it allows users to easily pipe the results (and only the results) to jq / a file!

Steps To Reproduce

1. Use latest main
2. Run dbt ls
3. See that info-level logging is included in stdout

Relevant log output

No response

Environment

- dbt (working version): v1.4
- dbt (regression version): v1.5 (beta)

Which database adapter are you using with dbt?

No response

Additional Context

Previous logic in 1.4.latest branch:

dbt-core/core/dbt/task/list.py

Lines 53 to 65 in 65fcbe7

	@classmethod
	def pre_init_hook(cls, args):
	"""A hook called before the task is initialized."""
	# Filter out all INFO-level logging to allow piping ls output to jq, etc
	# WARN level will still include all warnings + errors
	# Do this by:
	# - returning the log level so that we can pass it into the 'level_override'
	# arg of events.functions.setup_event_logger() -- good!
	# - mutating the initialized, not-yet-configured STDOUT event logger
	# because it's being configured too late -- bad! TODO refactor!
	log_manager.stderr_console()
	super().pre_init_hook(args)
	return EventLevel.WARN

This logic was removed in #6541.

FWIW it's possible to achieve the previous behavior, using v1.5, thanks to the new --log-level flag:

$ dbt --log-level warn ls
test.subdir.another_model
test.my_model
test.my_seed

Acceptance criteria:

• Make --log-level warn the default behavior with list, without needing to pass the --log-level flag
• If a user does explicitly pass/set the --log-level flag (or env var), it should take precedence over the default used for list

[jtcohen6]

Another valid workaround:

$ dbt --quiet ls
test.subdir.another_model
test.my_model
test.my_seed

[iknox-fa]

Per BLG Mar 27 2023: We're pointing this ticket as is, however the inconsistent use of a default log level feels a little dodgy. @jtcohen6 should we have a larger conversation about default log levels and expected outputs at some point?

[jtcohen6]

@iknox-fa I agree it's a little dodgy :)

My primary motivation here is in restoring the previous default behavior, since this wasn't a change we'd intended. If that's too tricky, though, we can document the workarounds of --log-level warn or --quiet to achieve the same behavior as the previous default.

[jtcohen6]

After chatting about this with more folks internally, I've come around to:

• This was weird & inconsistent behavior before (not to mention, poorly defined & documented)
• It's a defensible change, as part of our move toward a more consistent & solid application
• There are such easy & sensible mechanisms to achieve exactly the same behavior as before, it just requires passing an explicit flag instead of relying on the implicit/magical inconsistency

I'm going to close this issue and kick this out of scope for v1.5, and open a docs issue to make sure this is called out within the "Breaking Changes" section of the v1.5 migration guide.