log4j configuration via JVM argument(s)?

Question

Do you have a log4j configuration file ? Just reference it using

-Dlog4j.configuration={path to file}

where {path to file} should be prefixed with file:

Edit: If you are working with log4j2, you need to use

-Dlog4j.configurationFile={path to file}

Taken from answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/34001970/552525

The solution is using of the following JVM argument:

-Dlog4j.configuration={path to file}

If the file is NOT in the classpath (in WEB-INF/classes in case of Tomcat) but somewhere on you disk, use file:, like

-Dlog4j.configuration=file:C:\Users\me\log4j.xml

More information and examples here: http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/manual.html

This seems to have changed (probably with log4j2) to:

-Dlog4j.configurationFile=file:C:\Users\me\log4j.xml

See: https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/configuration.html

I know this is already answered, but because you said, this isn't exactly what you are looking for, I would like to point out the following alternative:

You can also use a configuration class instead of the properties or xml file.

-Dlog4j.configuratorClass=com.foo.BarConfigurator

See http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/manual.html for details.