protected function openLogFileHandle($type)
    {
        // don't open file handle if already open
        if (!empty($this->logFiles[$type]['handle'])) {
            return true;
        }

        // set the file handle
        $this->logFiles[$type]['handle'] = @fopen($this->logFiles[$type]['path'], $this->logFiles[$type]['mode']);

        // if log files are not writeable continue silently to the next handle
        // TODO: This seems a bit too silent... How could we get notice of the error?
        if ($this->logFiles[$type]['handle'] === false) {
            return false;
        }

        return true;
    }