log4j configuration

[ggreaves]

Has anybody successfully been able to configure log4j / JBoss (2.4.3) by extending a log4j class eg. Category or Filter. Whenever JBoss starts, we get the following errors:

================================
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/log4j/spi/Filter
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass0(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:486)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:111)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:248)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:56)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:195)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:188)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:297)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:286)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:290)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:253)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:313)
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:120)
at org.apache.log4j.helpers.OptionConverter.instantiateByClassName(OptionConverter.java:301)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parseFilters(DOMConfigurator.java:246)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parseAppender(DOMConfigurator.java:178)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.findAppenderByReference(DOMConfigurator.java:137)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parseChildrenOfCategoryElement(DOMConfigurator.java:354)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parseCategory(DOMConfigurator.java:310)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parse(DOMConfigurator.java:684)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.doConfigure(DOMConfigurator.java:586)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.doConfigure(DOMConfigurator.java:520)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.XMLWatchdog.doOnChange(DOMConfigurator.java:718)
at org.apache.log4j.helpers.FileWatchdog.checkAndConfigure(FileWatchdog.java:80)
at org.apache.log4j.helpers.FileWatchdog.(FileWatchdog.java:49)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.XMLWatchdog.(DOMConfigurator.java:710)
at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.configureAndWatch(DOMConfigurator.java:510)
at org.jboss.logging.Log4jService.start(Log4jService.java:120)
at org.jboss.logging.Log4jService.preRegister(Log4jService.java:189)
at com.sun.management.jmx.MBeanServerImpl.preRegisterInvoker(MBeanServerImpl.java:2245)
at com.sun.management.jmx.MBeanServerImpl.createMBean(MBeanServerImpl.java:765)
at javax.management.loading.MLet.getMBeansFromURL(MLet.java:540)
at javax.management.loading.MLet.getMBeansFromURL(MLet.java:369)
at org.jboss.Main.(Main.java:193)
at org.jboss.Main$1.run(Main.java:127)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at org.jboss.Main.main(Main.java:123)

================================

The custom filter is in a jar and has been placed in [JBOSS]/lib/ext. This error occurs when we set a classpath entry to this jar. If no classpath entry is set, we get a different ClassNotFoundException for the new filter class we created.

Other posts on this topic lead me to believe it's a classloader problem with JBoss / log4j. Does anybody have some experience here they could share?

-Greg

[adrian.brock]

If you look in the stacktrace you will see that
log4j uses Class.forName() which is the old Java1
way of doing it.

You should be able to workaround this by changing the
ARCHIVES attribute for the Log4jService at the top
of jboss.conf to include your jar.

Regards,
Adrian

[ggreaves]

This seems to have fixed the problem. Thanks.

-Greg

[ggreaves]

In case anybody is interested here are the steps we went through in order to get it to work with Jboss Version 2.4.3.

1. We extended Filter so we could filter out the userid
2. We created a jar and placed it in the lib/ext directory of Jboss.
3. We converted the properties file for Jboss Log4J Configuration to XML (
DOM Configurator Required for Filters ). Which we are attaching.
4. We edited the Jboss.conf file located in conf/default directory. Under
the Log4j service function / ARCHIVE section, we added the jar file to the
jars that are loaded with the log4j.jar thus putting it in the same
classloader. We also changed the log4j.properties entry to use our new XML
file.

Please note that Version 2.4.3 of Jboss uses an out of date log4j.dtd file
and as a result you will get an error on Jboss startup indicating that it
cannot find the xmlns:log4j error. The application runs fine.

-Greg

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM "log4j.dtd">

<log4j:configuration xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/">

<!--
Note the elements and attributes are order dependent
Please read the log4j.dtd for the exact order
-->

<!--
log4j.appender.Default=org.apache.log4j.FileAppender
log4j.appender.Default.File=../log/server.log
log4j.appender.Default.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
# Use the default JBoss format
log4j.appender.Default.layout.ConversionPattern=[%c{1}] %m%n
# Truncate if it aleady exists.
log4j.appender.Default.Append=false
-->












<!--
log4j.appender.Console=org.jboss.logging.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.Console.Threshold=INFO
log4j.appender.Console.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.Console.layout.ConversionPattern=[%c{1}] %m%n
-->

























<param name="DatePattern" value="'.'yyyy-MM-dd"/>










<!--
#Example of turning off logging for a category. Uncomment to turn
off.
#log4j.category.DefaultDS=FATAL
-->
<!--



-->


<!--
# Example of only showing INFO msgs for any categories under
org.jboss.util
#log4j.category.org.jboss.util=INFO
-->
<!--



-->

<!--
# An example of enabling the custom TRACE level priority that is
used
# by the JBoss internals to diagnose low level details. This
example
# turns on TRACE level msgs for the org.jboss.ejb.plugins package
and its
# subpackages. This will produce A LOT of logging output.

#log4j.category.org.jboss.ejb.plugins=TRACE#org.jboss.logging.log4j.TracePri
ority
-->

<!-- These categories must be in most specific order first -->
<!-- Otherwise the least specific category will not be logged -->
<!-- This happens particularily for duplicates -->
<!-- Make Sure EJBEnterpriseAppender category is specified last -->



<appender-ref ref="EJBUserAppender" />




<appender-ref ref="EJBEnterpriseAppender" />






<!-- log4j.rootCategory=DEBUG, Default, Console -->


<appender-ref ref="Default" />
<appender-ref ref="Console" />



</log4j:configuration>
======================================================