diff --git a/common/CMakeLists.txt b/common/CMakeLists.txt
index aaa0f14a0493aef0e52c51c6a6b5c6593eb10582..065c95430ee0f33a06f3f51ad0ccfe130d7e5082 100644
--- a/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ set (COMMON_LIB_SRC_FILES
exception/TimeOut.cpp
exception/XrootCl.cpp
log/DummyLogger.cpp
+ log/FileLogger.cpp
log/LogContext.cpp
log/Logger.cpp
log/LogLevel.cpp
@@ -147,6 +148,7 @@ set (COMMON_UNIT_TESTS_LIB_SRC_FILES
dataStructures/ArchiveFileTest.cpp
dataStructures/StorageClassTest.cpp
processCap/SmartCapTest.cpp
+ log/FileLoggerTest.cpp
log/LogContextTest.cpp
log/LogLevelTest.cpp
log/ParamTest.cpp
diff --git a/common/log/FileLogger.cpp b/common/log/FileLogger.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a99f6e5e7630ed3ae2a57f9258bdb6a5f98d8cd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/log/FileLogger.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/*
+ * The CERN Tape Archive (CTA) project
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 CERN
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include "common/log/FileLogger.hpp"
+#include "common/threading/MutexLocker.hpp"
+#include "common/exception/Errnum.hpp"
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+namespace cta {
+namespace log {
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// constructor
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+FileLogger::FileLogger(const std::string &programName, const std::string &filePath,
+ const int logMask):
+ Logger(programName, logMask) {
+ m_fd = ::open(filePath.c_str(), O_APPEND | O_CREAT | O_WRONLY, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP);
+ cta::exception::Errnum::throwOnMinusOne(m_fd,
+ std::string("In FileLogger::FileLogger(): failed to open log file: ") + filePath);
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// destructor
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+FileLogger::~FileLogger() {
+ if (-1 != m_fd) {
+ ::close(m_fd);
+ }
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// prepareForFork
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+void FileLogger::prepareForFork() {
+}
+
+//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// reducedSyslog
+//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+void FileLogger::reducedSyslog(const std::string & msg) {
+ if (-1 == m_fd)
+ throw cta::exception::Exception("In FileLogger::reducedSyslog(): file is not properly initialized");
+ // Prepare the string to print (for size)
+ std::string m = msg.substr(0, m_maxMsgLen);
+
+ // enter critical section
+ threading::MutexLocker lock(m_mutex);
+
+ // Append the message to the file
+ cta::exception::Errnum::throwOnMinusOne(::write(m_fd, m.c_str(), m.size()),
+ "In FileLogger::reducedSyslog(): failed to write to file");
+}
+
+} // namespace log
+} // namespace cta
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/common/log/FileLogger.hpp b/common/log/FileLogger.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9737226579465bce615850711ce14bb02d2c54da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/log/FileLogger.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+/*
+ * The CERN Tape Archive (CTA) project
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 CERN
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include "common/log/Logger.hpp"
+#include "common/threading/Mutex.hpp"
+
+namespace cta {
+namespace log {
+
+/**
+ * Class implementaing the API of the CASTOR logging system.
+ */
+class FileLogger: public Logger {
+public:
+
+ /**
+ * Constructor
+ *
+ * @param programName The name of the program to be prepended to every log
+ * message.
+ * @param filePath path to the log file.
+ * @param logMask The log mask.
+ */
+ FileLogger(const std::string &programName, const std::string &filePath,
+ const int logMask);
+
+ /**
+ * Destructor.
+ */
+ ~FileLogger();
+
+ /**
+ * Prepares the logger object for a call to fork().
+ *
+ * No further calls to operator() should be made after calling this
+ * method until the call to fork() has completed.
+ */
+ void prepareForFork() ;
+
+protected:
+
+ /**
+ * Mutex used to protect the critical section of the StringLogger
+ * object.
+ */
+ threading::Mutex m_mutex;
+
+ /**
+ * The output file handle.
+ */
+ int m_fd=-1;
+
+ /**
+ * A reduced version of syslog. This method is able to set the message
+ * timestamp. This is necessary when logging messages asynchronously of there
+ * creation, such as when retrieving logs from the DB.
+ *
+ * @param msg The message to be logged.
+ */
+ void reducedSyslog(const std::string & msg);
+
+}; // class StringLogger
+
+} // namespace log
+} // namespace cta
diff --git a/common/log/FileLoggerTest.cpp b/common/log/FileLoggerTest.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a629296ea7adcb94ebaf36dc83715f8558e849f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/log/FileLoggerTest.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * The CERN Tape Archive (CTA) project
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 CERN
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include "FileLogger.hpp"
+#include "tests/TempFile.hpp"
+
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <sstream>
+
+using namespace cta::log;
+
+namespace unitTests {
+ TEST(cta_log_FileLogger, basicTest) {
+ std::string jat = "Just a test";
+ TempFile tf;
+ FileLogger fl("cta_log_StringLogger", tf.path(), DEBUG);
+ fl(INFO, jat);
+ std::ifstream ifs(tf.path());
+ std::stringstream res;
+ res << ifs.rdbuf();
+ ASSERT_NE(std::string::npos, res.str().find(jat));
+ }
+}