Overriding logback configurations

Question

Is there any way that we can override the logback configurations? I know that we define the logback configurations in file named logback.xml (usually stored in the path src/main/resources) and I know that by using <include> tag we can set an external file to be added to logback.xml just like below:

<configuration>

<!--<include url="file:///d:/ServerConfig.xml"/>-->
<include file="${outPut}/ServerConfig.xml"/>


<logger name="Server" LEVEL="DEBUG">
    <appender-ref ref="FILEOUT" />
</logger>

<root level="DEBUG">
    <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
    <!--<appender-ref ref="FILEOUT" />-->
</root>

</configuration>

But what if I want to override this default configuration? For example set the root logger level to INFO.

Here is the included file:

<included>

<!-- <property file="d:/ServerSysVar.properties"/>-->
<property file="${outPut}/ServerSysVar.properties"/>


<appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
    <!-- encoders are assigned the type
         ch.qos.logback.classic.encoder.PatternLayoutEncoder by default -->
    <encoder>
        <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n</pattern>
    </encoder>
</appender>



<appender name="FILEOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.FileAppender">
    <file>${Sys_Location}/Serverfile4.log</file>
    <!-- encoders are assigned the type
         ch.qos.logback.classic.encoder.PatternLayoutEncoder by default -->
    <encoder>
        <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} %class{36}.%M %L CLIENT_PORT:%X{ClientPort}- %msg%n</pattern>
    </encoder>
</appender>


<logger name="Service" LEVEL="DEBUG">
    <appender-ref ref="FILEOUT" />
</logger>

 <root>
    <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
   <!-- <appender-ref ref="FILEOUT" />-->
</root>

</included>

Answer 1

I don't think that you can overwrite logback.xml-definitions from an included file.

But I have an approach that solves your question regarding overriding the root-logger-level, using variable substitution with default values:

logback.xml

<configuration>   <include file="includedFile.xml" />    <!-- STDOUT appender stuff -->    <root level="${root.level:-DEBUG}">     <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />   </root> <configuration> 

includedFile.xml

<included>    <!-- override the default value; or comment out to leave it at default -->   <property name="root.level" value="INFO" />  </included> 

With that concept, I've even been able to control the output to multiple appenders from the included file:

logback.xml

<configuration>   <include file="includedFile.xml" />    <!-- STDOUT appender stuff -->    <appender name="FILE" class="ch.qos.logback.core.FileAppender">     <filter class="ch.qos.logback.classic.filter.ThresholdFilter">       <level>${file.level:-ALL}</level>     </filter>     <file>/path/to/logfeil.log</file>     <encoder>       <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n</pattern>     </encoder>   </appender>    <appender name="SYSLOG" class="ch.qos.logback.classic.net.SyslogAppender">     <filter class="ch.qos.logback.classic.filter.ThresholdFilter">       <level>${syslog.level:-OFF}</level>     </filter>     <syslogHost>localhost</syslogHost>     <facility>${syslog.facility:-LOCAL1}</facility>     <suffixPattern>${syslog.pattern:-[%thread] %logger{36} - %msg}</suffixPattern>    </appender>    <logger name="my.package" level="${logging.level:-INFO}" additivity="false">     <appender-ref ref="FILE" />     <appender-ref ref="SYSLOG" />   </logger>    <root level="${root.level:-DEBUG}">     <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />   </root> <configuration> 

And in the includedFile.xml I can control if, and at what level message shall pass through the appenders FILE and SYSLOG, setting the properties file.level, syslog.level and of course logging.level.

Answer 2

I had a similar problem to which this answer seems the best approach.

In my case, I needed to override the included file to completely turn off one of the appenders.

Using the a variable for the log level value, one can change it to OFF.

<included>   (...)   <root level="${root.level.console:-DEBUG}">     <appender-ref ref="CONSOLE" />   </root>   <root level="${root.level.file:-DEBUG}">     <appender-ref ref="FILE" />   </root> </included> 

As stated in http://logback.qos.ch/manual/configuration.html#rootElement

<configuration>   <include resource="base.xml" />   (...)   <property name="root.level.console" value="OFF" /> </configuration>