log4j2 how to disable "date:" lookup - log4j throws exception

Question

edit seems not to be possible at the moment filed an issue.

---

i am using log4j2 in my apache camel application. In camel file names can be configured this way "?fileName=${date:now:yyyyMMdd-HHmmss}ID.${id}.gz"

if i set log level to debug camel tries to log what it is doing but log4j seems to try to lookup/interpret the string with "date:" and throws an exception:

2014-11-24 11:29:19,218 ERROR Invalid date format: "now:yyyyMMdd-HHmmss", using default java.lang.IllegalArgumentExcepti
on: Illegal pattern character 'n'
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.compile(Unknown Source)
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.initialize(Unknown Source)
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.<init>(Unknown Source)
        at java.text.SimpleDateFormat.<init>(Unknown Source)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.DateLookup.formatDate(DateLookup.java:60)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.DateLookup.lookup(DateLookup.java:53)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.Interpolator.lookup(Interpolator.java:144)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.StrSubstitutor.resolveVariable(StrSubstitutor.java:1008)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.StrSubstitutor.substitute(StrSubstitutor.java:926)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.StrSubstitutor.substitute(StrSubstitutor.java:816)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.StrSubstitutor.replace(StrSubstitutor.java:385)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.pattern.MessagePatternConverter.format(MessagePatternConverter.java:71)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.pattern.PatternFormatter.format(PatternFormatter.java:36)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout.PatternLayout.toSerializable(PatternLayout.java:189)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout.PatternLayout.toSerializable(PatternLayout.java:53)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout.AbstractStringLayout.toByteArray(AbstractStringLayout.java:52)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.AbstractOutputStreamAppender.append(AbstractOutputStreamAppender.java:
104)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.AppenderControl.callAppender(AppenderControl.java:97)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.LoggerConfig.callAppenders(LoggerConfig.java:428)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.LoggerConfig.log(LoggerConfig.java:407)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.LoggerConfig.log(LoggerConfig.java:365)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Logger.logMessage(Logger.java:112)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.spi.AbstractLogger.logMessage(AbstractLogger.java:1347)
        at org.apache.logging.log4j.spi.AbstractLogger.logIfEnabled(AbstractLogger.java:1312)
        at org.apache.logging.slf4j.Log4jLogger.debug(Log4jLogger.java:132)
        at org.apache.camel.util.IntrospectionSupport.setProperty(IntrospectionSupport.java:518)
        at org.apache.camel.util.IntrospectionSupport.setProperty(IntrospectionSupport.java:570)
        at org.apache.camel.util.IntrospectionSupport.setProperties(IntrospectionSupport.java:454)
        at org.apache.camel.util.EndpointHelper.setProperties(EndpointHelper.java:249)
        at org.apache.camel.impl.DefaultComponent.setProperties(DefaultComponent.java:272)
        at org.apache.camel.component.file.GenericFileComponent.createEndpoint(GenericFileComponent.java:67)
        at org.apache.camel.component.file.GenericFileComponent.createEndpoint(GenericFileComponent.java:37)
        at org.apache.camel.impl.DefaultComponent.createEndpoint(DefaultComponent.java:123)
        at org.apache.camel.impl.DefaultCamelContext.getEndpoint(DefaultCamelContext.java:514)
        at org.apache.camel.impl.DefaultCamelContext.getEndpoint(DefaultCamelContext.java:547)

Is there a way to turn off this "date:" lookup? Why does it try to interpret stuff coming from log at all? I think it should not be touched in any way?!

Edit, very easy to reproduce in test:

public class LogTest {

    private Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LogTest.class);

    @Test
    public void test() {
        log.info("${date:now:buhu}");

    }
}

It is crucial to us ${date:} - only "data:now" is working. So this problem is completely independent from camel, but camel uses ${date:...} pattern for several things. Here is a simple route that reproduces the problem - the exception will be thrown on camel set up phase - no test code needed - logging level must be "debug"!:

public class LogTest extends CamelTestSupport{

    private Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LogTest.class);

    @Test
    public void test() {
        //log.info("${date:now:yyyyMMdd-HHmmss}");

    }

    @Override
    protected RouteBuilder createRouteBuilder() throws Exception {
        return new RouteBuilder() {

            @Override
            public void configure() throws Exception {
                from("direct:a").to("file:./?fileName=${date:now:yyyyMMdd-HHmmss}ID.${id}.gz");
            }
        };
    }

}

Answer 1

This issue was fixed in 2.7 version of Log4j2.

The solution is to upgrade to that version (or higher) and add in the pattern attribute the option "{nolookups}" to %msg .

%msg{nolookups}

For example

<PatternLayout pattern="%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} %-5level %class{1} %L %M %t - %msg{nolookups}%n%xEx%n" />

Answer 2

The problem can be avoided, if the simple-Expression is written as $simple{..} instead of ${..}. Then log4j2 won't use his Date-Lookup.

So, if you change your Route from:

from("direct:a").to("file:./?fileName=${date:now:yyyyMMdd-HHmmss}ID.${id}.gz"); 

to:

from("direct:a").to("file:./?fileName=$simple{date:now:yyyyMMdd-HHmmss}ID.${id}.gz");

it should work, even if you debug Camel.