Issue #8327: logging: Clarification of propagation functionality in documentation.
diff --git a/Doc/library/logging.rst b/Doc/library/logging.rst
index 253eb77..ac58431 100644
--- a/Doc/library/logging.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/logging.rst
@@ -251,11 +251,11 @@
will return a reference to the same logger object. Loggers that are further
down in the hierarchical list are children of loggers higher up in the list.
For example, given a logger with a name of ``foo``, loggers with names of
-``foo.bar``, ``foo.bar.baz``, and ``foo.bam`` are all children of ``foo``.
-Child loggers propagate messages up to their parent loggers. Because of this,
-it is unnecessary to define and configure all the loggers an application uses.
-It is sufficient to configure a top-level logger and create child loggers as
-needed.
+``foo.bar``, ``foo.bar.baz``, and ``foo.bam`` are all descendants of ``foo``.
+Child loggers propagate messages up to the handlers associated with their
+ancestor loggers. Because of this, it is unnecessary to define and configure
+handlers for all the loggers an application uses. It is sufficient to
+configure handlers for a top-level logger and create child loggers as needed.
Handlers
@@ -283,15 +283,16 @@
are there two :func:`setLevel` methods? The level set in the logger
determines which severity of messages it will pass to its handlers. The level
set in each handler determines which messages that handler will send on.
- :func:`setFormatter` selects a Formatter object for this handler to use.
+
+* :func:`setFormatter` selects a Formatter object for this handler to use.
* :func:`addFilter` and :func:`removeFilter` respectively configure and
deconfigure filter objects on handlers.
-Application code should not directly instantiate and use handlers. Instead, the
-:class:`Handler` class is a base class that defines the interface that all
-Handlers should have and establishes some default behavior that child classes
-can use (or override).
+Application code should not directly instantiate and use instances of
+:class:`Handler`. Instead, the :class:`Handler` class is a base class that
+defines the interface that all Handlers should have and establishes some
+default behavior that child classes can use (or override).
Formatters
@@ -523,7 +524,9 @@
can have zero, one or more handlers associated with it (via the
:meth:`addHandler` method of :class:`Logger`). In addition to any handlers
directly associated with a logger, *all handlers associated with all ancestors
-of the logger* are called to dispatch the message.
+of the logger* are called to dispatch the message (unless the *propagate* flag
+for a logger is set to a false value, at which point the passing to ancestor
+handlers stops).
Just as for loggers, handlers can have levels associated with them. A handler's
level acts as a filter in the same way as a logger's level does. If a handler
@@ -854,8 +857,8 @@
.. attribute:: Logger.propagate
If this evaluates to false, logging messages are not passed by this logger or by
- child loggers to higher level (ancestor) loggers. The constructor sets this
- attribute to 1.
+ its child loggers to the handlers of higher level (ancestor) loggers. The
+ constructor sets this attribute to 1.
.. method:: Logger.setLevel(lvl)