diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2f73403..fd5e17f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -271,6 +271,12 @@ version = "0.4.13"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "01cda141df6706de531b6c46c3a33ecca755538219bd484262fa09410c13539c"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "log"
+version = "0.4.21"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "90ed8c1e510134f979dbc4f070f87d4313098b704861a105fe34231c70a3901c"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "memchr"
 version = "2.7.2"
@@ -293,6 +299,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "const_format",
  "enum_dispatch",
  "libc",
+ "log",
  "path-absolutize",
  "regex",
  "rust-apt",
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/Cargo.toml b/crates/pacdef/Cargo.toml
index bd71cad..1d47365 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/pacdef/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ termios = "0.3"
 walkdir = "2.5"
 libc = "0.2"
 enum_dispatch = "0.3"
+log = { version = "0.4", features = ["std"] }
 
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0"
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/src/backend/actual/rust.rs b/crates/pacdef/src/backend/actual/rust.rs
index 95e3058..9bf9612 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/src/backend/actual/rust.rs
+++ b/crates/pacdef/src/backend/actual/rust.rs
@@ -47,9 +47,7 @@ impl Backend for Rust {
         let content = match read_to_string(file) {
             Ok(string) => string,
             Err(err) if err.kind() == NotFound => {
-                eprintln!(
-                    "WARNING: no crates file found for cargo. Assuming no crates installed yet."
-                );
+                log::warn!("no crates file found for cargo. Assuming no crates installed yet.");
                 return Ok(HashSet::new());
             }
             Err(err) => bail!(err),
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/src/core.rs b/crates/pacdef/src/core.rs
index 417ffb3..2d121ca 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/src/core.rs
+++ b/crates/pacdef/src/core.rs
@@ -78,10 +78,6 @@ impl GroupArguments {
 
 impl EditGroupAction {
     fn run(self, groups: &Groups) -> Result<()> {
-        if groups.is_empty() {
-            eprintln!("WARNING: no group files found");
-        }
-
         let group_files: Vec<_> = find_groups_by_name(&self.edit_groups, groups)
             .context("getting group files for args")?
             .into_iter()
@@ -171,7 +167,7 @@ impl ImportGroupAction {
                 .context("filename is not valid UTF-8")?;
 
             if !target.exists() {
-                eprintln!("file {target_name} does not exist, skipping");
+                log::warn!("file {target_name} does not exist, skipping");
                 continue;
             }
 
@@ -179,7 +175,7 @@ impl ImportGroupAction {
             link.push(target_name);
 
             if link.exists() {
-                eprintln!("group {target_name} already exists, skipping");
+                log::warn!("group {target_name} already exists, skipping");
             } else {
                 symlink(target, link)?;
             }
@@ -195,10 +191,6 @@ impl ListGroupAction {
     /// This methods cannot return an error. It returns a `Result` to be consistent
     /// with other methods.
     fn run(self, groups: &Groups) -> Result<()> {
-        if groups.is_empty() {
-            eprintln!("WARNING: no group files found");
-        }
-
         let mut vec: Vec<_> = groups.iter().collect();
         vec.sort_unstable();
         for g in vec {
@@ -264,10 +256,6 @@ impl NewGroupAction {
 
 impl RemoveGroupAction {
     fn run(self, groups: &Groups) -> Result<()> {
-        if groups.is_empty() {
-            eprintln!("WARNING: no group files found");
-        }
-
         let found = find_groups_by_name(&self.remove_groups, groups)?;
 
         for group in found {
@@ -280,10 +268,6 @@ impl RemoveGroupAction {
 
 impl ShowGroupAction {
     fn run(self, groups: &Groups) -> Result<()> {
-        if groups.is_empty() {
-            eprintln!("WARNING: no group files found");
-        }
-
         let mut errors = vec![];
         let mut found_groups = vec![];
 
@@ -416,10 +400,6 @@ impl UnmanagedPackageAction {
 fn get_missing_packages(groups: &Groups, config: &Config) -> Result<ToDoPerBackend> {
     let mut to_install = ToDoPerBackend::new();
 
-    if groups.is_empty() {
-        eprintln!("WARNING: no group files found");
-    }
-
     for mut backend in AnyBackend::iter() {
         if config
             .disabled_backends
@@ -470,10 +450,6 @@ fn overwrite_values_from_config(backend: &mut AnyBackend, config: &Config) {
 ///
 /// This function will propagate errors from the individual backends.
 fn get_unmanaged_packages(groups: &Groups, config: &Config) -> Result<ToDoPerBackend> {
-    if groups.is_empty() {
-        eprintln!("WARNING: no group files found");
-    }
-
     let mut result = ToDoPerBackend::new();
 
     for mut backend in AnyBackend::iter() {
@@ -579,12 +555,12 @@ fn find_groups_by_name<'a>(names: &[String], groups: &'a Groups) -> Result<Vec<&
 fn show_backend_query_error(error: &anyhow::Error, backend: &AnyBackend) {
     let section = backend.get_section();
     if should_print_debug_info() {
-        eprintln!("WARNING: skipping backend '{section}':");
-        for err in error.chain() {
-            eprintln!("  {err}");
-        }
+        log::warn!(
+            "skipping backend '{section}': {}",
+            error.chain().map(|x| x.to_string()).collect::<String>()
+        );
     } else {
-        eprintln!("WARNING: skipping backend '{section}': {error}");
+        log::warn!("skipping backend '{section}': {error}");
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/src/errors.rs b/crates/pacdef/src/errors.rs
index 2207c11..54457e0 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/src/errors.rs
+++ b/crates/pacdef/src/errors.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use std::error::Error as ErrorTrait;
-use std::fmt::{Display, Write};
+use std::fmt::Display;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 /// Error types for pacdef.
@@ -23,26 +23,19 @@ pub enum Error {
 impl Display for Error {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
         match self {
-            Self::NoPackagesFound => f.write_str("no packages matching query"),
-            Self::ConfigFileNotFound => f.write_str("config file not found"),
-            Self::GroupFileNotFound(name) => f.write_str(&format!("group file '{name}' not found")),
-            Self::GroupAlreadyExists(path) => f.write_str(&format!(
-                "group file '{}' already exists",
-                path.to_string_lossy()
-            )),
-            Self::InvalidGroupName(name) => {
-                f.write_str(&format!("group name '{name}' is not valid"))
+            Self::NoPackagesFound => write!(f, "no packages matching query"),
+            Self::ConfigFileNotFound => write!(f, "config file not found"),
+            Self::GroupFileNotFound(name) => write!(f, "group file '{name}' not found"),
+            Self::GroupAlreadyExists(path) => {
+                write!(f, "group file '{}' already exists", path.to_string_lossy())
             }
+            Self::InvalidGroupName(name) => write!(f, "group name '{name}' is not valid"),
             Self::MultipleGroupsNotFound(vec) => {
-                f.write_str("could not find the following groups:\n")?;
-                let mut iter = vec.iter().peekable();
-                while let Some(group) = iter.next() {
-                    f.write_str(&format!("  {group}"))?;
-                    if iter.peek().is_some() {
-                        f.write_char('\n')?;
-                    }
-                }
-                Ok(())
+                write!(
+                    f,
+                    "could not find the following groups: [{}]",
+                    vec.join(", ")
+                )
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/group.rs b/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/group.rs
index 50f6c8b..a579ae4 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/group.rs
+++ b/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/group.rs
@@ -153,13 +153,13 @@ impl Group {
                 }
                 Err(e) => {
                     let err = e.root_cause();
-                    eprintln!("WARNING: could not process a section under group '{name}': {err}");
+                    log::warn!("could not process a section under group '{name}': {err}");
                 }
             }
         }
 
         if sections.is_empty() {
-            eprintln!("WARNING: no sections found in group '{name}'");
+            log::warn!("no sections found in group '{name}'");
         }
 
         let path = path.into();
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/section.rs b/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/section.rs
index 62ffa36..bbb8e07 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/section.rs
+++ b/crates/pacdef/src/grouping/section.rs
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ fn insert_package(package: Package, packages: &mut HashSet<Package>) {
     let newly_inserted = packages.insert(package);
 
     if !newly_inserted {
-        eprintln!("warning: {package_name} occurs twice in the same section");
+        log::warn!("{package_name} occurs twice in the same section");
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/src/main.rs b/crates/pacdef/src/main.rs
index c1782e2..e716c13 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/pacdef/src/main.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,27 @@ Check out https://github.com/steven-omaha/pacdef/blob/main/README.md#configurati
 This message will not appear again.
 ------";
 
+struct PacdefLogger;
+
+impl log::Log for PacdefLogger {
+    fn enabled(&self, _: &log::Metadata) -> bool {
+        true
+    }
+
+    fn log(&self, record: &log::Record) {
+        if self.enabled(record.metadata()) {
+            eprintln!("{} - {}", record.level(), record.args());
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn flush(&self) {}
+}
+
 fn main() -> ExitCode {
+    log::set_boxed_logger(Box::new(PacdefLogger))
+        .map(|()| log::set_max_level(log::LevelFilter::Info))
+        .expect("no other loggers should have been set");
+
     handle_final_result(main_inner())
 }
 
@@ -43,7 +63,7 @@ fn handle_final_result(result: Result<()>) -> ExitCode {
         Ok(_) => ExitCode::SUCCESS,
         Err(ref e) => {
             if let Some(root_error) = e.root_cause().downcast_ref::<PacdefError>() {
-                eprintln!("{root_error}");
+                log::error!("{root_error}");
                 ExitCode::FAILURE
             } else {
                 result.report()
@@ -75,10 +95,14 @@ fn main_inner() -> Result<()> {
     let groups = Group::load(&group_dir, config.warn_not_symlinks)
         .with_context(|| format!("loading groups under {}", group_dir.to_string_lossy()))?;
 
+    if groups.is_empty() {
+        log::warn!("no group files found");
+    }
+
     for group in groups.iter() {
         if group.warn_symlink {
-            eprintln!(
-                "WARNING: group file {} is not a symlink",
+            log::warn!(
+                "group file {} is not a symlink",
                 group.path.to_string_lossy()
             );
         }
diff --git a/crates/pacdef/src/search.rs b/crates/pacdef/src/search.rs
index c824670..a56a839 100644
--- a/crates/pacdef/src/search.rs
+++ b/crates/pacdef/src/search.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ use crate::{
 /// - no matching packages could be found.
 pub fn search_packages(regex_str: &str, groups: &Groups) -> Result<()> {
     if groups.is_empty() {
-        eprintln!("WARNING: no group files found");
         bail!(crate::errors::Error::NoPackagesFound);
     }