How to configure log4j using Netbeans and Maven for standalone app - log4j

Question

Setting up a new standalone app and want to use log4j. Am using Maven on Netbeans (6.5), and was able to add the log4j jar/dependency, but it can't seem to find my log4j.xml file and I'm not sure how to tell Netbeans to find it.
Here's my error:
log4j:WARN No appenders could be found for logger (com.domain.project).
log4j:WARN Please initialize the log4j system properly.
log4j.xml path is src/main/resources/com/domain/product/gui/resource/log4j.xml
Note: the location of the log4j.xml was chosen to be consistent with legacy code (i.e. so future maintainers can find it), but this could be changed if necessary.
pom.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.domain.project</groupId>
<artifactId>project-log</artifactId>
<packaging>jar</packaging>
<version>0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>project-log</name>
<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.2</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.5</source>
<target>1.5</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<version>3.8.1</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>mysql</groupId>
<artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
<version>5.1.9</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>log4j</groupId>
<artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
<version>1.2.14</version>
<scope>compile</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</project>
Here's my very simple log4j.xml:
<log4j:configuration xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/">
<appender name="ConsoleAppender" class="org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender">
<layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
<!-- The default pattern: Date Priority [Category] Message\n -->
<param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d %-5p [%c] %m%n"/>
</layout>
</appender>
<category name="com.domain.project">
<priority value="debug"/>
</category>
<root>
<priority value="info"/>
<appender-ref ref="ConsoleAppender"/>
</root>
</log4j:configuration>
And my call to set up logging:
static Logger log = Logger.getLogger("com.domain.project");
How do I tell Netbeans to set up a Maven classpath to this configuration file?
Ilane

Answer 1

I recently faced the same problem when I wanted to get the logging working when the application was launched from within the IDE.
My solution is to use the additionalArguments of the nbm-maven-plugin as illustrated below.
Notice the use of -J-Dlog4j.configuration=... the extra -J ensures that the option is passed to the application, otherwise it only affects the JVM of the maven launcher.
<build>
<pluginManagement
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>nbm-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<extensions>true</extensions>
<configuration>
<brandingToken>${brandingToken}</brandingToken>
<cluster>${brandingToken}</cluster>
<additionalArguments>-J-Dlog4j.configuration=file:${basedir}/log4j.properties</additionalArguments>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</pluginManagement>
</build>

Answer 2

Location of log4j.xml is rather strange. I would place it in src/main/resources and the problem would disappear. If you need some legacy tools to find the same file where they need it, try to copy it there in generate-resources phase. For example, with maven-antrun-plugin