How direct all internal Springboot logging to log4j? - spring

Question

I would like to have all the internal Springboot log messages directed to log4j so that the messages follow my log4j properties (i.e. they go to the console and my log4j file using my layout).
I attempted to configure Springboot to use only log4j logging per this guide: http://spring.io/blog/2009/12/04/logging-dependencies-in-spring/
I have successfully setup log4j to log to the console and to file when using a log4j logger object.
However, it appears that Springboot is still using slf4j when it logs internally. I tried removing the slf4j dependencies, but Springboot fails to startup with a missing class exception.
How can I direct all the internal Springboot logging to log4j?

Answer 1

Have you tried this from the official docs?
http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/1.2.2.RELEASE/reference/htmlsingle/#howto-configure-log4j-for-logging
Basically you have to exclude the logback stuff that comes by default with the starter poms.
Quoted here for reference:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-log4j</artifactId>
</dependency>

Answer 2

If you are using spring-boot, I recommend following the spring documentation, which I found easier than your reference.
I have log4j working, and it prints messages like:
[2015-03-06 15:34:54 INFO ] [main] [tomcat.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer] Tomcat initialized with port(s): 8080 (http)
Not sure if that's what you mean by internal messages.

Answer 3

<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot</artifactId>
<version>1.1.4.RELEASE</version>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<!-- add slf4j interfaces to classpath this is for log4j -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
<version>1.6.4</version>
<scope>compile</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
<version>1.6.4</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
<!-- add log4j to classpath -->
<!-- does the logging -->
<dependency>
<groupId>log4j</groupId>
<artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
<version>1.2.16</version>
</dependency>
Add log4j.properties under resources
log4j.rootLogger=INFO, Console, File
# Direct log messages to stdout
log4j.appender.Console=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.Console.Target=System.out
log4j.appender.Console.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.Console.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} [%t] %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n
log4j.appender.File=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.File.append=true
log4j.appender.File.file=/tmp/projectdir/logfile-ws.log
log4j.appender.File.threshold=INFO
log4j.appender.File.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.File.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} [%t] %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n
log4j.appender.File.MaxFileSize=100MB
log4j.appender.File.MaxBackupIndex=1