Modifying java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter format property under Tomcat

Question

I am using Tomcat 7.0.28, running under OpenJDK 1.7 on Ubuntu, and am trying to modify the formatting string used by java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter. According to the Javadocs for that class, I can specify the property java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format to change the format. And indeed, when I run my webapp in Eclipse and change this property in my logging.properties file, it works.

However, when I deploy the app to Tomcat, this property does not seem to have any effect. I am confident that my properties file is being read correctly, as other changes that I make to it do indeed take effect (I'm reading the properties in from a file using

LogManager.getLogManager().readConfiguration(new FileInputStream(file))

where file is configured via a parameter in my web.xml file. I've tried putting the file in WEB-INF/classes/logging.properties, with no change in behavior.

The Javadocs for SimpleFormatter specify that if both a properties file and a system property specify the formatting string, the system property takes precedence. I have verified that the system property is not set

context.log ("Formatting system property is " + System.getProperty("java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format"));

in a ServletContextListener.contextInitialized method.

Here's my logging properties file in full

handlers=java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler

#  Default logging level for root logger
.level=FINE

#  Set the level for the ConsoleHandler
java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.level=FINE
java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.formatter=java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter
java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=[%1$tF %1$tr] %3$s %4$s:  %5$s %n

I've tried everything I can think of, including modifying logging.properties in both the TOMCAT/conf and JRE_HOME/lib directory. Nothing seems to make any difference.

Answer 1

Thanks to info in the bug report pointed out by nolan6000 I finally got this working with tomcat-juli.

Instead of:

java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=%4$s: %5$s [%1$tc]%n

it has to be:

1catalina.java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=%4$s: %5$s [%1$tc]%n