Fix license mismatch, import shadowing, packaging debt, AsyncLogger message loss, magic numbers, missing CONTRIBUTING.md, version alignment, and update CHANGELOG

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,23 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.2.2] - 2026-03-17
+
+### Added
+- `LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG`, `LOG_LEVEL_INFO`, `LOG_LEVEL_WARNING`, `LOG_LEVEL_ERROR`, and `LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL` named constants exported from the top-level package, replacing bare integer literals throughout the API.
+- `AsyncLogger.close()` method for an explicit per-instance best-effort flush before discarding an async logger.
+- `CONTRIBUTING.md` with setup, testing, style, and pull-request guidelines (the README linked to this file but it was previously missing).
+
+### Changed
+- `shutdown_async_logging` is now registered with `atexit` so buffered async messages are flushed when the interpreter exits rather than being silently dropped.
+- `shutdown_async_logging()` now drains the queue via a `None` sentinel and waits for the background worker to finish before returning, ensuring pending messages are processed.
+- `AsyncLogger.flush()` and `AsyncLogger.close()` now use a deterministic synchronization barrier (`_FlushSignal`) so callers block until all preceding messages are fully written, replacing the previous timing-based best-effort approach.
+- Removed legacy root-level `__init__.py` that shadowed the `kakashi/` package in editable installs.
+- Removed `setup.py`; `pyproject.toml` is now the single canonical build configuration.
+
+### Fixed
+- README license text corrected from MIT to LGPL-2.1, matching the `LICENSE` file and packaging metadata.
+
 ## [0.2.1] - 2026-02-05
 
 ### Changed

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Contributing to Kakashi
+
+Thank you for your interest in contributing! The following guidelines will help you get started.
+
+## Reporting Issues
+
+- Search [existing issues](https://github.com/IntegerAlex/kakashi/issues) before opening a new one.
+- Include a minimal, reproducible example and your Python version when reporting bugs.
+
+## Development Setup
+
+```bash
+# Clone the repository
+git clone https://github.com/IntegerAlex/kakashi.git
+cd kakashi
+
+# Install with development dependencies
+pip install -e ".[dev]"
+```
+
+## Running Tests
+
+```bash
+pytest
+```
+
+## Code Style
+
+- Format code with [black](https://black.readthedocs.io/): `black .`
+- Lint with [flake8](https://flake8.pycqa.org/): `flake8 kakashi/`
+- Type-check with [mypy](https://mypy.readthedocs.io/): `mypy kakashi/`
+
+## Submitting a Pull Request
+
+1. Fork the repository and create a feature branch from `main`.
+2. Write tests for any new functionality.
+3. Ensure all tests, lint, and type checks pass.
+4. Open a pull request with a clear description of the change.
+
+## License
+
+By contributing you agree that your code will be released under the project's [LGPL-2.1 license](LICENSE).

README.md

@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ We welcome contributions! Please see our [Contributing Guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) f
 
 ## 📄 License
 
-This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.
+This project is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 (LGPL-2.1) - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.
 
 ## ⚖️ Legal Disclaimers
 

kakashi/__init__.py

@@ -40,9 +40,18 @@
 
 # Main logger classes and entry points
 from .core.logger import (
-    Logger, AsyncLogger, LogFormatter,
-    get_logger, get_async_logger, clear_logger_cache,
-    shutdown_async_logging
+    Logger,
+    AsyncLogger,
+    LogFormatter,
+    get_logger,
+    get_async_logger,
+    clear_logger_cache,
+    shutdown_async_logging,
+    LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG,
+    LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
+    LOG_LEVEL_WARNING,
+    LOG_LEVEL_ERROR,
+    LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL,
 )
 
 # ============================================================================
@@ -81,11 +90,15 @@
 # VERSION AND METADATA
 # ============================================================================
 
-__version__ = "2.0.0"
+__version__ = "0.2.2"
 __author__ = "Kakashi Development Team"
 __description__ = "Professional High-Performance Logging Library"
 __url__ = "https://github.com/kakashi/logging"
 
+# Backward-compatible aliases for callers using `kakashi.version`/`kakashi.author`.
+version = __version__
+author = __author__
+
 # ============================================================================
 # MAIN EXPORTS
 # ============================================================================
@@ -99,6 +112,13 @@
     "get_async_logger",  # Async logger entry point
     "clear_logger_cache",
     "shutdown_async_logging",
+
+    # ---- LOG LEVEL CONSTANTS ----
+    "LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG",
+    "LOG_LEVEL_INFO",
+    "LOG_LEVEL_WARNING",
+    "LOG_LEVEL_ERROR",
+    "LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL",
 
     # ---- CORE DATA STRUCTURES ----
     "LogRecord",
@@ -135,6 +155,8 @@
     # ---- VERSION AND METADATA ----
     "__version__",
     "__author__",
+    "version",
+    "author",
     "__description__",
     "__url__",
-]
+]