ConsoleProxy

ConsoleProxy is a sample logging proxy that can transparently replace any console application and log its usage to a file.

Source code:https://github.com/ikriv/ConsoleProxy
Binaries:https://github.com/ikriv/ConsoleProxy/releases

Why it is useful

"As is" it is useful to debug cases when a console proces is invoked from a GUI process behind the scenes: e.g. when git.exe is invoked from a front end like TortoiseGit or SourceTree. It may also be modified to include additional functionality such as capturing target's output, invoking different versions of the target depending on circumstances, etc.

How to use

To proxy an application named foo.exe do the following:

1. Rename ConsoleProxy.exe to foo.exe.
2. If necessary, remove the original foo.exe from PATH and add path to the proxied version instead.
3. Create environment variable NATIVE_foo and set its value to the location of the original foo.exe.

When invoked under name foo.exe, ConsoleProxy creates a log file under %localappdata%\ConsoleProxy\Foo folder, locates the original foo.exe via NATIVE_foo environment variable, and launches it with the same arguments as itself.

For example, suppose the original is located at c:\program files\foo\foo.exe, and the proxy is c:\temp\ConsoleProxy\foo.exe. When someone launches

c:\temp\ConsoleProxy\foo.exe -v dostuff

it would invoke the original and create a log file undler %LOCALAPPDATA%\ConsoleProxy\foo with contents similar to

foo.exe  -v dostuff
Executing [c:\program files\foo\foo.exe -v dostuff]
Exit code 42

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