Spring : Logging not working with log4j or logback

Question

I am working on a Spring-MVC application in which I am trying to get logging working again. Unfortunately, sometime back it just stopped working, I don't know what is causing that. I tried some suggestions on net, but nothing useful. Any suggestions?

Pom.xml :

<packaging>war</packaging>
    <properties>
        <java-version>1.8</java-version>
        <org.springframework-version>4.1.6.RELEASE</org.springframework-version>
        <org.aspectj-version>1.7.4</org.aspectj-version>
        <org.slf4j-version>1.7.5</org.slf4j-version>
        <hibernate.version>4.3.9.Final</hibernate.version>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
        <springsecurity.version>4.0.1.RELEASE</springsecurity.version>
        <spring-platform.version>1.1.3.RELEASE</spring-platform.version>
        <jetty.version>9.2.9.v20150224</jetty.version>
    </properties>

    <parent>
        <groupId>io.spring.platform</groupId>
        <artifactId>platform-bom</artifactId>
        <version>1.1.3.RELEASE</version>
        <relativePath />
    </parent>

    <dependencies>

  <!-- Spring framework dependencies -->

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.mobile</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-mobile-device</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-data-redis</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring security dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-taglibs</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>


    <!-- Logging -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.5</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
            <version>1.7.5</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
            <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.13</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
            <artifactId>logback-core</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.13</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>apache-log4j-extras</artifactId>
            <version>1.1</version>
        </dependency>

I have both log4j.xml and logback.xml :

log4j.xml :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM "http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/apidocs/org/apache/log4j/xml/doc-files/log4j.dtd">
<log4j:configuration>


    <!-- Appenders -->
    <appender name="console" class="org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender">
        <param name="Target" value="System.out" />
        <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
            <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%-5p: %c - %m%n" />
        </layout>
    </appender>
  <logger name="org.cometd">
        <level value="debug"/>
    </logger>
    <!-- Root Logger -->
    <root>
        <priority value="OFF" />
        <appender-ref ref="console" />
    </root>

</log4j:configuration>

logback.xml :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
    <include resource="org/springframework/boot/logging/logback/base.xml"/>


    <logger name="org.cometd" level="debug"/>
    <logger name="com.tooltank.spring.chat.ChatServiceImpl" level="info"/>
</configuration>

During server startup I get this :

SLF4J: Class path contains multiple SLF4J bindings.
SLF4J: Found binding in [jar:file:/home/logback-classic-1.0.13.jar!/org/slf4j/impl/StaticLoggerBinder.class]
SLF4J: Found binding in [jar:file:/home//WEB-INF/lib/slf4j-log4j12-1.7.12.jar!/org/slf4j/impl/StaticLoggerBinder.class]
SLF4J: See http://www.slf4j.org/codes.html#multiple_bindings for an explanation.
13:43:29,173 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.LoggerContext[default] - Could NOT find resource [logback.groovy]
13:43:29,173 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.LoggerContext[default] - Could NOT find resource [logback-test.xml]
13:43:29,174 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.LoggerContext[default] - Found resource [logback.xml] at [file:/home/path/to/logback.xml]
13:43:29,292 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.ConfigurationAction - debug attribute not set
13:43:29,298 |-ERROR in ch.qos.logback.core.joran.action.IncludeAction - Could not find resource corresponding to [org/springframework/boot/logging/logback/base.xml]
SLF4J: Actual binding is of type [ch.qos.logback.classic.util.ContextSelectorStaticBinder]
13:43:29,299 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.LoggerAction - Setting level of logger [org.cometd] to DEBUG
13:43:29,299 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.LoggerAction - Setting level of logger [com.tooltank.spring.chat.ChatServiceImpl] to INFO
13:43:29,299 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.action.ConfigurationAction - End of configuration.
13:43:29,300 |-INFO in ch.qos.logback.classic.joran.JoranConfigurator@59474a9e - Registering current configuration as safe fallback point

What am I missing? Thank you.

Answer 1

You should avoid using log4j and logback in one application. If you have both jars in your classpath the classloader will pick either one of them (kind of random..) That is indicated by this log statement:

SLF4J: Class path contains multiple SLF4J bindings.

If you intend to use logback you need to place the logback.xml file in the classpath of your application. From documentation:

logback will try to configure itself using the files logback-test.xml or logback.xml if found on the class path.

You can also check out this link: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/html/howto-logging.html#howto-configure-logback-for-logging

Edit: I guess you also need to add an appender to the console such as:

  <appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
<!-- encoders are assigned the type
     ch.qos.logback.classic.encoder.PatternLayoutEncoder by default -->
<encoder>
  <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n</pattern>
</encoder>

and then add the appender to your logger:

<logger name="org.cometd" additivity="false">
    <level value="DEBUG" />
    <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
</logger>

Best regards!