SpringBoot deployment on Ubuntu with logback configuration fails with FileNotFoundException (Permission Denied) - spring

Question

I am trying to deploy simple SpringBoot application on ubuntu server as an Upstart service.
This application has logback-spring.xml configuration which points to exact same location where the service log files are created i.e. /var/log/upstart directory.
But when I deploy this application it fails with following error indicating some permission issue (Permission Denied),
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalStateException: Logback configuration error detected:
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Logback configuration error detected:
ERROR in ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.RollingFileAppender[FILE] - openFile(/var/log/upstart/app.log,true) call failed. java.io.FileNotFoundException: /var/log/upstart.app.log (Permission denied)
ERROR in ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.RollingFileAppender[FILE] - openFile(/var/log/upstart/app.log,true) call failed. java.io.FileNotFoundException: /var/log/upstart/app.log (Permission denied)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.logback.LogbackLoggingSystem.loadConfiguration(LogbackLoggingSystem.java:153)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.logback.LogbackLoggingSystem.loadConfiguration(LogbackLoggingSystem.java:153) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.logging.AbstractLoggingSystem.initializeWithConventions(AbstractLoggingSystem.java:71)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.AbstractLoggingSystem.initializeWithConventions(AbstractLoggingSystem.java:71) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.logging.AbstractLoggingSystem.initialize(AbstractLoggingSystem.java:49)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.AbstractLoggingSystem.initialize(AbstractLoggingSystem.java:49) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.logging.logback.LogbackLoggingSystem.initialize(LogbackLoggingSystem.java:106)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.logback.LogbackLoggingSystem.initialize(LogbackLoggingSystem.java:106) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.initializeSystem(LoggingApplicationListener.java:262)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.initializeSystem(LoggingApplicationListener.java:262) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.initialize(LoggingApplicationListener.java:233)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.initialize(LoggingApplicationListener.java:233) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.onApplicationEnvironmentPreparedEvent(LoggingApplicationListener.java:200)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.onApplicationEnvironmentPreparedEvent(LoggingApplicationListener.java:200) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.onApplicationEvent(LoggingApplicationListener.java:176)
at org.springframework.boot.logging.LoggingApplicationListener.onApplicationEvent(LoggingApplicationListener.java:176) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.invokeListener(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:163)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.invokeListener(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:163) ~[spring-context-4.2.4.RELEASE.jar:4.2.4.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:136)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:136) ~[spring-context-4.2.4.RELEASE.jar:4.2.4.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:119)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:119) ~[spring-context-4.2.4.RELEASE.jar:4.2.4.RELEASE]
at org.springframework.boot.context.event.EventPublishingRunListener.publishEvent(EventPublishingRunListener.java:111)
at org.springframework.boot.context.event.EventPublishingRunListener.environmentPrepared(EventPublishingRunListener.java:65)
at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplicationRunListeners.environmentPrepared(SpringApplicationRunListeners.java:54)
at org.springframework.boot.context.event.EventPublishingRunListener.publishEvent(EventPublishingRunListener.java:111) ~[spring-boot-1.3.1.RELEASE.jar:1.3.1.RELEASE]
Logback-spring.xml file,
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- Enable jmxConfiguration to allow dynamic level change through spring boot admin -->
<jmxConfigurator/>
<property resource="log.properties" />
<!-- Standard console appender used in all environments. Upstart catches logs and stores in /var/log/upstart-->
<appender name="console" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
<encoder>
<pattern>[%-5level] [%t] %d %logger{35} - %msg%n</pattern>
</encoder>
</appender>
<springProfile name="local">
<appender name="local" class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.RollingFileAppender">
<file>${log.local.path}/${log.name.async}.log</file>
<rollingPolicy class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.TimeBasedRollingPolicy">
<!-- daily rollover -->
<fileNamePattern>${log.local.path}/%d{yyyy-MM-dd,aux}/${log.name.async}.%d{yyyy-MM-dd}.%i.log</fileNamePattern>
<!-- keep 30 days' worth of history -->
<maxHistory>7</maxHistory>
<timeBasedFileNamingAndTriggeringPolicy class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.SizeAndTimeBasedFNATP">
<!-- or whenever the file size reaches 256MB -->
<maxFileSize>256MB</maxFileSize>
</timeBasedFileNamingAndTriggeringPolicy>
</rollingPolicy>
<encoder class="ch.qos.logback.classic.encoder.PatternLayoutEncoder">
<Pattern>%-5level [%t] %d{yyyy-MM-dd_HH:mm:ss.SSS} %logger{35} - %msg%n</Pattern>
</encoder>
</appender>
</springProfile>
<root level="INFO">
<appender-ref ref="console"/>
<appender-ref ref="local"/>
</root>
log.properties file,
log.local.path=/var/log/upstart
log.name.async=propspace-async

Answer 1

Finally I figured out the issue. Though the error was pretty straight forward, there were some things I need to relook into.
The service was owned by user 'appuser' on ubuntu.
The directory (/var/log/upstart/) into which the logs were pointed was not permitted to user 'appuser'. The log directory was owned by user 'root'. Hence I created another directory (/var/log/app/) which is also owned by the same user i.e. 'appuser' and started the application.
It solved the issue.