Log4j not picking up log4j.properties file from resources folder

Question

I'm working on spring project and using log4j for logging. But log4j is using its default logging style and not picking up the properties from the log4j.properties file. 'log4.properties' is under resources folder. This is my pom.xml

<parent>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
    <version>1.3.6.RELEASE</version>
</parent>

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
        <version>1.2.17</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

This is my log4j.properties file

# Root logger option
log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, stdout, file

# Direct log messages to a log file
log4j.appender.file=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.file.File=logs/logging.log
log4j.appender.file.MaxFileSize=10MB
log4j.appender.file.MaxBackupIndex=10
log4j.appender.file.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.file.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n

# Direct log messages to stdout
log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.stdout.Target=System.out
log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} %-5p %c{1}:%L - %m%n

Answer 1

By default, Spring Boot configures logging via Logback ( http://logback.qos.ch ) to log to the console at INFO level.

Swapping out Logback for another logging implementation Generally speaking, you should never need to switch logging implementations; Logback should suit you fine. However, if you decide that you'd rather use Log4j or Log4j2, you'll need to change your dependencies to include the appropriate starter for the logging implementation you want to use and to exclude Logback. For Maven builds, you can exclude Logback by excluding the default logging starter transitively resolved by the root starter dependency:

Spring Boot in Action CRAIG WALLS

<dependencies>
...
<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-log4j2</artifactId>
</dependency>

...
</dependencies>