diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -1387,7 +1387,7 @@
                         strprintf(_("Unsupported logging category %s=%s."),
                                   "-debug", cat));
                 }
-                logCategories |= flag;
+                g_logger->EnableCategory(static_cast<BCLog::LogFlags>(flag));
             }
         }
     }
@@ -1400,7 +1400,7 @@
                 InitWarning(strprintf(_("Unsupported logging category %s=%s."),
                                       "-debugexclude", cat));
             }
-            logCategories &= ~flag;
+            g_logger->DisableCategory(static_cast<BCLog::LogFlags>(flag));
         }
     }
 
@@ -1740,7 +1740,8 @@
 #ifndef WIN32
     CreatePidFile(GetPidFile(), getpid());
 #endif
-    if (gArgs.GetBoolArg("-shrinkdebugfile", logCategories != BCLog::NONE)) {
+    bool default_shrinkdebugfile = g_logger->DefaultShrinkDebugFile();
+    if (gArgs.GetBoolArg("-shrinkdebugfile", default_shrinkdebugfile)) {
         // Do this first since it both loads a bunch of debug.log into memory,
         // and because this needs to happen before any other debug.log printing.
         g_logger->ShrinkDebugFile();
diff --git a/src/logging.h b/src/logging.h
--- a/src/logging.h
+++ b/src/logging.h
@@ -21,8 +21,6 @@
 
 extern bool fLogIPs;
 
-extern std::atomic<uint32_t> logCategories;
-
 namespace BCLog {
 
 enum LogFlags : uint32_t {
@@ -65,6 +63,12 @@
      */
     std::atomic_bool fStartedNewLine{true};
 
+    /**
+     * Log categories bitfield. Leveldb/libevent need special handling if their
+     * flags are changed at runtime.
+     */
+    std::atomic<uint32_t> logCategories{0};
+
     std::string LogTimestampStr(const std::string &str);
 
 public:
@@ -83,6 +87,15 @@
 
     void OpenDebugLog();
     void ShrinkDebugFile();
+
+    void EnableCategory(LogFlags category);
+    void DisableCategory(LogFlags category);
+
+    /** Return true if log accepts specified category */
+    bool WillLogCategory(LogFlags category) const;
+
+    /** Default for whether ShrinkDebugFile should be run */
+    bool DefaultShrinkDebugFile() const;
 };
 
 } // namespace BCLog
@@ -90,8 +103,8 @@
 extern std::unique_ptr<BCLog::Logger> g_logger;
 
 /** Return true if log accepts specified category */
-static inline bool LogAcceptCategory(uint32_t category) {
-    return (logCategories.load(std::memory_order_relaxed) & category) != 0;
+static inline bool LogAcceptCategory(BCLog::LogFlags category) {
+    return g_logger && g_logger->WillLogCategory(category);
 }
 
 /** Returns a string with the supported log categories */
@@ -102,7 +115,7 @@
 
 #define LogPrint(category, ...)                                                \
     do {                                                                       \
-        if (g_logger && LogAcceptCategory((category))) {                       \
+        if (g_logger && g_logger->WillLogCategory((category))) {               \
             g_logger->LogPrintStr(tfm::format(__VA_ARGS__));                   \
         }                                                                      \
     } while (0)
diff --git a/src/logging.cpp b/src/logging.cpp
--- a/src/logging.cpp
+++ b/src/logging.cpp
@@ -11,12 +11,6 @@
 
 bool fLogIPs = DEFAULT_LOGIPS;
 
-/**
- * Log categories bitfield. Leveldb/libevent need special handling if their
- * flags are changed at runtime.
- */
-std::atomic<uint32_t> logCategories(0);
-
 std::unique_ptr<BCLog::Logger> g_logger;
 
 static int FileWriteStr(const std::string &str, FILE *fp) {
@@ -188,3 +182,19 @@
     } else if (file != nullptr)
         fclose(file);
 }
+
+void BCLog::Logger::EnableCategory(LogFlags category) {
+    logCategories |= category;
+}
+
+void BCLog::Logger::DisableCategory(LogFlags category) {
+    logCategories &= ~category;
+}
+
+bool BCLog::Logger::WillLogCategory(LogFlags category) const {
+    return (logCategories.load(std::memory_order_relaxed) & category) != 0;
+}
+
+bool BCLog::Logger::DefaultShrinkDebugFile() const {
+    return logCategories != BCLog::NONE;
+}