diff --git a/src/filters/rclexecm.py b/src/filters/rclexecm.py
index 5007df9e..d2a2e897 100644
--- a/src/filters/rclexecm.py
+++ b/src/filters/rclexecm.py
@@ -31,8 +31,26 @@ import rclconfig
 import cmdtalk
 
 PY3 = (sys.version > '3')
-_mswindows = (sys.platform == "win32")
-_execdir = os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0])
+_g_mswindows = (sys.platform == "win32")
+_g_execdir = os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0])
+
+_g_config = rclconfig.RclConfig()
+_g_debugfile = _g_config.getConfParam("filterdebuglog")
+_g_errfout = None
+
+
+def logmsg(msg):
+    global _g_debugfile, _g_errfout
+    if _g_debugfile and not _g_errfout:
+        try:
+            _g_errfout = open(_g_debugfile, "a")
+        except:
+            pass
+    if _g_errfout:
+        print("%s" % msg, file=_g_errfout)
+    elif not _g_mswindows:
+        print("%s" % msg, file=sys.stderr)
+
 
 # Convert to bytes if not already such.
 def makebytes(data):
@@ -40,6 +58,7 @@ def makebytes(data):
         return data.encode("UTF-8")
     return data
 
+
 # Possibly decode binary file name for use as subprocess argument,
 # depending on platform.
 def subprocfile(fn):
@@ -48,26 +67,22 @@ def subprocfile(fn):
     # to convert.
     # On Unix all list elements get converted to bytes in the C
     # _posixsubprocess module, nothing to do.
-    if PY3 and _mswindows and type(fn) != type(''):
+    if PY3 and _g_mswindows and type(fn) != type(''):
         return fn.decode('UTF-8')
     else:
         return fn
 
+
 # Check for truthness of rclconfig value.
 def configparamtrue(value):
     if not value:
         return False
     try:
         ivalue = int(value)
-        if ivalue:
-            return True
-        else:
-            return False
+        return True if ivalue else False
     except:
-        pass
-    if value[0] in 'tT':
-        return True
-    return False
+        return True if value[0] in 'tT' else False
+
 
 # Escape special characters in plain text for inclusion in HTML doc.
 # Note: tried replacing this with a multiple replacer according to
@@ -84,8 +99,6 @@ def htmlescape(txt):
     return txt
 
 
-my_config = rclconfig.RclConfig()
-
 ############################################
 # RclExecM implements the communication protocol with the recollindex
 # process. It calls the object specific of the document type to
@@ -109,7 +122,7 @@ class RclExecM(cmdtalk.CmdTalk):
         self.maxmembersize = self.maxmembersize * 1024
 
         # Tell cmdtalk where to log
-        self.debugfile = my_config.getConfParam("filterdebuglog")
+        self.debugfile = _g_config.getConfParam("filterdebuglog")
         # Some of our params are binary, cmdtalk should not decode them
         self.nodecodeinput = True
 
@@ -222,7 +235,7 @@ def which(program):
 
     def path_candidates():
         yield os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0])
-        rclpath = my_config.getConfParam("recollhelperpath")
+        rclpath = _g_config.getConfParam("recollhelperpath")
         if rclpath:
             for path in rclpath.split(os.pathsep):
                 yield path
@@ -244,9 +257,9 @@ def which(program):
 def execPythonScript(icmd):
     import subprocess
     cmd = list(icmd)
-    if _mswindows:
+    if _g_mswindows:
         if not os.path.isabs(cmd[0]):
-            cmd[0] = os.path.join(_execdir, cmd[0])
+            cmd[0] = os.path.join(_g_execdir, cmd[0])
         cmd = [sys.executable] + cmd
     return subprocess.check_output(cmd)
     
@@ -347,8 +360,8 @@ def main(proto, extract):
 
     # Some filters (e.g. rclaudio) need/get a MIME type from the indexer.
     # We make a half-assed attempt to emulate:
-    mimetype = my_config.mimeType(path)
-    if not mimetype and not _mswindows:
+    mimetype = _g_config.mimeType(path)
+    if not mimetype and not _g_mswindows:
         mimetype = mimetype_with_file(path)
     if mimetype:
         params['mimetype'] = mimetype
diff --git a/src/filters/rclmidi.py b/src/filters/rclmidi.py
index 8295643c..f11a61ba 100644
--- a/src/filters/rclmidi.py
+++ b/src/filters/rclmidi.py
@@ -29,9 +29,6 @@ import sys
 from struct import unpack, pack
 import six
 
-def debug(s):
-    print("%s"%s, file=sys.stderr)
-
 PY3 = sys.version > '3'
 
 if PY3:
diff --git a/src/filters/rclocr.py b/src/filters/rclocr.py
index 40f4d26a..332231b4 100755
--- a/src/filters/rclocr.py
+++ b/src/filters/rclocr.py
@@ -30,11 +30,10 @@ import importlib.util
 
 import rclconfig
 import rclocrcache
+import rclexecm
 
-_mswindows = (sys.platform == "win32")
 def _deb(s):
-    if not _mswindows:
-        print("rclocr: %s" % s, file=sys.stderr)
+    rclexecm.logmsg(s)
     
 def Usage():
     _deb("Usage: rclocr.py <imagefilename>")
@@ -57,6 +56,7 @@ def breakwrite(f, data):
         offset += tow
         total -= tow
 
+
 if len(sys.argv) != 2:
     Usage()
 
diff --git a/src/filters/rclocrabbyy.py b/src/filters/rclocrabbyy.py
index e3450a09..529d0f74 100755
--- a/src/filters/rclocrabbyy.py
+++ b/src/filters/rclocrabbyy.py
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@ abbyyocrcmd = ""
 abbyocrdir = ""
 
 def _deb(s):
-    if not _mswindows:
-        print("rclocrabbyy: %s" % s, file=sys.stderr)
+    rclexecm.logmsg(s)
 
 # Return true if abbyy appears to be available
 def ocrpossible(config, path):
diff --git a/src/filters/rclocrcache.py b/src/filters/rclocrcache.py
index cdece6b2..6d71994e 100755
--- a/src/filters/rclocrcache.py
+++ b/src/filters/rclocrcache.py
@@ -61,9 +61,12 @@ import urllib.parse
 import zlib
 import glob
 
+import rclexecm
+
 def _deb(s):
-    print("rclocrcache: %s" %s, file=sys.stderr)
+    rclexecm.logmsg(s)
     
+
 class OCRCache(object):
     def __init__(self, conf):
         self.config = conf
@@ -324,4 +327,3 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 #        if not incache:
 #            trystore(path)
 #
-        
diff --git a/src/filters/rclocrtesseract.py b/src/filters/rclocrtesseract.py
index 4c8d2c9d..0dce9277 100755
--- a/src/filters/rclocrtesseract.py
+++ b/src/filters/rclocrtesseract.py
@@ -39,9 +39,10 @@ _okexts = ('.tif', '.tiff', '.jpg', '.png', '.jpeg')
 tesseractcmd = None
 pdftoppmcmd = None
 
+
 def _deb(s):
-    if not _mswindows:
-        print("rclocrtesseract: %s" % s, file=sys.stderr)
+    rclexecm.logmsg(s)
+
 
 def vacuumdir(dir):
     if dir:
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ def vacuumdir(dir):
                 os.unlink(path)
     return True
 
+
 tmpdir = None
 def _maybemaketmpdir():
     global tmpdir
@@ -61,13 +63,16 @@ def _maybemaketmpdir():
     else:
         tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix='rclmpdf')
 
+
 def finalcleanup():
     if tmpdir:
         vacuumdir(tmpdir)
         os.rmdir(tmpdir)
 
+
 atexit.register(finalcleanup)
 
+
 # Return true if tesseract and the appropriate conversion program for
 # the file type (e.g. pdftoppt for pdf) appear to be available
 def ocrpossible(config, path):
@@ -145,6 +150,7 @@ def _guesstesseractlang(config, path):
     _deb("Tesseract lang (guessed): %s" % tesseractlang)
     return tesseractlang
 
+
 # Process pdf file: use pdftoppm to split it into ppm pages, then run
 # tesseract on each and concatenate the result. It would probably be
 # possible instead to use pdftocairo to produce a tiff, buf pdftocairo
diff --git a/src/filters/rcluncomp.py b/src/filters/rcluncomp.py
index 746c65e6..8bb9edc1 100644
--- a/src/filters/rcluncomp.py
+++ b/src/filters/rcluncomp.py
@@ -9,24 +9,26 @@ import platform
 import subprocess
 import glob
 
-ftrace = sys.stderr
-#ftrace = open("C:/Users/Bill/log-uncomp.txt", "w")
+
+def _msg(s):
+    rclexecm.logmsg(s)
+    
 
 sysplat = platform.system()
 if sysplat != "Windows":
-    print("rcluncomp.py: only for Windows", file = ftrace)
+    _msg("rcluncomp.py: only for Windows")
     sys.exit(1)
 
 try:
     import msvcrt
     msvcrt.setmode(sys.stdout.fileno(), os.O_BINARY)
 except Exception as err:
-    print("setmode binary failed: %s" % str(err), file = ftrace)
+    _msg("setmode binary failed: %s" % str(err))
 
 sevenz = rclexecm.which("7z")
 if not sevenz:
-    print("rcluncomp.py: can't find 7z exe. Maybe set recollhelperpath " \
-          "in recoll.conf ?", file=ftrace)
+    _msg("rcluncomp.py: can't find 7z exe. Maybe set recollhelperpath " \
+          "in recoll.conf ?")
     sys.exit(2)
 
 # Params: uncompression program, input file name, temp directory.
@@ -34,7 +36,7 @@ if not sevenz:
 
 infile = sys.argv[2]
 outdir = sys.argv[3]
-# print("rcluncomp.py infile [%s], outdir [%s]" % (infile, outdir), file = ftrace)
+# _msg("rcluncomp.py infile [%s], outdir [%s]" % (infile, outdir))
 
 # There is apparently no way to suppress 7z output. Hopefully the
 # possible deadlock described by the subprocess module doc can't occur
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ try:
     # There should be only one file in there..
     print(outputname[0])
 except Exception as err:
-    print("%s" % (str(err),), file = ftrace)
+    _msg("%s" % (str(err),))
     sys.exit(4)
 
 sys.exit(0)