Java Logging Reconsidered - The Technical Times of Michael Andrews

Java Logging Reconsidered - The Technical Times of Michael Andrews

Java Logging Reconsidered

For some time now I have been a bit perplexed about logging in Java. Not only does it seem overly complicated, but the community is fragmented around all the different frameworks, wrappers, and implementations.  So I thought I would sit down and try to learn the history, understand the pros and cons of each framework, and determine my preferred logging ecosystem.

 

Log4J

From what I understand, in 1996, JDK 1.0.2 did not have a logging framework. It basically leveraged System.out and System.err for logging. This shortcoming led to the Jakarta project "Log for Java" (log4j), which in 1999 provided a robust concrete logging implementation. It was continuously developed through 2008 and has become widely adopted.

Log4J Pros:

• Fast.
• Thread safe.
• Multiple loggers.
• Multiple log levels.
• Multiple appenders: file, db, email, remote systems, etc.
• Simple runtime configuration.

Log4J Cons:

• Does not provide asynchronous logging.
• No longer being developed (as far as I can tell).
• One COULD argue that it is hard to extend. So I will too. :)

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