log4net minimum configuration for RollingFileAppender?

Question

I am trying to find what the minimum setup required to get log4net working is. Below is my config

<log4net>
    <appender name="something" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
    </appender>
    <root>
        <appender-ref ref="something"/>
    </root>
</log4net>

I am getting the following error:

log4net:ERROR XmlHierarchyConfigurator: Could not create Appender [something] of type [log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender]. Reported error follows. System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender.ActivateOptions() at log4net.Repository.Hierarchy.XmlHierarchyConfigurator.ParseAppender(XmlElement appenderElement) log4net:ERROR XmlHierarchyConfigurator: Appender named [something] not found.

I can't find any documentation on the required setup for the RollingFileAppender. What else should I add?

Answer 1

Looks like you need a filename and a layout section. I got it working with the following:

   <log4net>
    <appender name="FileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender" >
        <param name="File" value="Logs\\MyAppLog.log"/>
        <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        </layout>
    </appender>
    <root>
        <appender-ref ref="FileAppender"/>
    </root>
  </log4net>