diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d19911a3fe8..1c52f17cb2a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4861,7 +4861,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "dialoguer",
  "dirs",
  "distance",
- "fern",
  "flate2",
  "hex",
  "http_req",
diff --git a/lib/cli/Cargo.toml b/lib/cli/Cargo.toml
index 16bb64cc449..fa6a0875e9f 100644
--- a/lib/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lib/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -54,8 +54,6 @@ distance = "0.4"
 # For the inspect subcommand
 bytesize = "1.0"
 cfg-if = "1.0"
-# For debug feature
-fern = { version = "0.6", features = ["colored"], optional = true }
 tempfile = "3.4.0"
 http_req  = { version="^0.8", default-features = false, features = ["rust-tls"] }
 reqwest = { version = "^0.11", default-features = false, features = ["rustls-tls", "json", "multipart"] }
@@ -166,7 +164,7 @@ llvm = [
     "wasmer-compiler-llvm",
     "compiler",
 ]
-debug = ["fern", "wasmer-wasi/logging"]
+debug = ["tracing", "wasmer-wasi/logging"]
 disable-all-logging = ["wasmer-wasi/disable-all-logging", "log/release_max_level_off"]
 headless = []
 headless-minimal = ["headless", "disable-all-logging", "wasi"]
diff --git a/lib/cli/src/logging.rs b/lib/cli/src/logging.rs
index 887c6a7eb20..bfa6148bcfa 100644
--- a/lib/cli/src/logging.rs
+++ b/lib/cli/src/logging.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 //! Logging functions for the debug feature.
 
 /// Subroutine to instantiate the loggers
-#[cfg(feature = "tracing")]
+#[cfg(any(feature = "tracing", feature = "debug"))]
 pub fn set_up_logging(verbose: u8) -> Result<(), String> {
     use tracing_subscriber::prelude::*;
     use tracing_subscriber::{fmt, EnvFilter};
@@ -26,73 +26,3 @@ pub fn set_up_logging(verbose: u8) -> Result<(), String> {
 
     Ok(())
 }
-
-/// Subroutine to instantiate the loggers
-#[deprecated("please use the tracing feature instead")]
-#[cfg(not(feature = "tracing"))]
-pub fn set_up_logging(verbose: u8) -> Result<(), String> {
-    use crate::utils::wasmer_should_print_color;
-    use anyhow::Result;
-    use fern::colors::{Color, ColoredLevelConfig};
-    use std::time;
-
-    /// The debug level
-    pub type DebugLevel = log::LevelFilter;
-
-    let colors_line = ColoredLevelConfig::new()
-        .error(Color::Red)
-        .warn(Color::Yellow)
-        .trace(Color::BrightBlack);
-    let should_color = wasmer_should_print_color();
-
-    let colors_level = colors_line.info(Color::Green);
-    let level = match verbose {
-        1 => DebugLevel::Debug,
-        _ => DebugLevel::Trace,
-    };
-    let dispatch = fern::Dispatch::new()
-        .level(level)
-        .chain({
-            let base = if should_color {
-                fern::Dispatch::new().format(move |out, message, record| {
-                    let time = time::SystemTime::now().duration_since(time::UNIX_EPOCH).expect("Can't get time");
-                    out.finish(format_args!(
-                        "{color_line}[{seconds}.{millis} {level} {target}{color_line}]{ansi_close} {message}",
-                        color_line = format_args!(
-                            "\x1B[{}m",
-                            colors_line.get_color(&record.level()).to_fg_str()
-                        ),
-                        seconds = time.as_secs(),
-                        millis = time.subsec_millis(),
-                        level = colors_level.color(record.level()),
-                        target = record.target(),
-                        ansi_close = "\x1B[0m",
-                        message = message,
-                    ));
-                })
-            } else {
-                // default formatter without color
-                fern::Dispatch::new().format(move |out, message, record| {
-                    let time = time::SystemTime::now().duration_since(time::UNIX_EPOCH).expect("Can't get time");
-                    out.finish(format_args!(
-                        "[{seconds}.{millis} {level} {target}] {message}",
-                        seconds = time.as_secs(),
-                        millis = time.subsec_millis(),
-                        level = record.level(),
-                        target = record.target(),
-                        message = message,
-                    ));
-                })
-            };
-
-            base
-                .filter(|metadata| {
-                    metadata.target().starts_with("wasmer")
-                })
-                .chain(std::io::stdout())
-        });
-
-    dispatch.apply().map_err(|e| format!("{}", e))?;
-
-    Ok(())
-}