How do you Change a Package’s Log Level using Log4j?

Which app server are you using? Each one puts its logging config in a different place, though most nowadays use Commons-Logging as a wrapper around either Log4J or java.util.logging.

Using Tomcat as an example, this document explains your options for configuring logging using either option. In either case you need to find or create a config file that defines the log level for each package and each place the logging system will output log info (typically console, file, or db).

In the case of log4j this would be the log4j.properties file, and if you follow the directions in the link above your file will start out looking like:

log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, R 
log4j.appender.R=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender 
log4j.appender.R.File=${catalina.home}/logs/tomcat.log 
log4j.appender.R.MaxFileSize=10MB 
log4j.appender.R.MaxBackupIndex=10 
log4j.appender.R.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout 
log4j.appender.R.layout.ConversionPattern=%p %t %c - %m%n

Simplest would be to change the line:

log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, R

To something like:

log4j.rootLogger=WARN, R

But if you still want your own DEBUG level output from your own classes add a line that says:

log4j.category.com.mypackage=DEBUG

Reading up a bit on Log4J and Commons-Logging will help you understand all this.

Leave a Comment