Initialize the logging system and parse the environment variable
    of the given name.
    Needs to be called before starting the actual application.

def init(envVarName, enableColorOutput=False):
    """
    Initialize the logging system and parse the environment variable
    of the given name.
    Needs to be called before starting the actual application.
    """
    global _initialized

    if _initialized:
        return

    global _ENV_VAR_NAME
    _ENV_VAR_NAME = envVarName

    if enableColorOutput:
        _preformatLevels(envVarName + "_NO_COLOR")
    else:
        _preformatLevels(None)

    if envVarName in os.environ:
        # install a log handler that uses the value of the environment var
        setDebug(os.environ[envVarName])
    addLimitedLogHandler(stderrHandler)

    _initialized = True