[LOG4J2-3328] Log4j 1.2 bridge does not support system properties in log4j.xml

• Type: Bug
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Blocker
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 2.17.1
• Fix Version/s: 2.17.2
• Component/s: Log4j 1.2 bridge

Environment

Windows 10

Amazon Linux

• Assignee: Gary D. Gregory
• Reporter: Paul Cooper
• Created: 10/Jan/22 16:13
• Updated: 14/Feb/22 12:36
• Resolved: 16/Jan/22 17:06

Description

I am attempting to use the log4j bridge with log4j2, and cannot use system properties to set a location for my log files.

Reported here: stackoverflow

My log4j.xml file:
log4j-dev.xml
...
<appender name="DAILY" class="org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender">
<param name="File" value="${catalina.base}/logs/etl.log"/>
<param name="DatePattern" value="'.'yyyy-MM-dd"/>
<layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
<param name="ConversionPattern" value="GATEWAY: %p %d [%t] %c{1}.%M(%L) | %m%n"/>
</layout>
</appender>
...

The setenv.bat entry where I define which log4j.xml to use:
-Dlog4j2.debug=true -Dlog4j.configuration=log4j-dev.xml

The properties shown in the tomcat log illustrating that the system property in question is being supplied to the log4j1 bridge
...
Command line argument: -Dlog4j2.debug=true
Command line argument: -Dlog4j.logDir=C:\dev\apache-tomcat-8.5.50\logs
Command line argument: -Dlog4j.configuration=log4j-dev.xml
Command line argument: -Dcatalina.base=C:\dev\apache-tomcat-8.5.50
Command line argument: -Dcatalina.home=C:\dev\apache-tomcat-8.5.50
Command line argument: -Djava.io.tmpdir=C:\dev\apache-tomcat-8.5.50\temp
...

And the part of the log that shows where the log file is successfully created and what path it is using:

...
DEBUG StatusLogger Class name: [org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender]
DEBUG StatusLogger Parsing layout of class: "org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout"
DEBUG StatusLogger PluginManager 'Converter' found 47 plugins
TRACE StatusLogger New file '${catalina.base}/etl.log' created = true
DEBUG StatusLogger Returning file creation time for C:\dev\apache-tomcat-8.5.50\bin\${catalina.base}\etl.log
DEBUG StatusLogger Starting RollingFileManager ${catalina.base}/etl.log
...

The log file is being created in a folder named "${catalina.base}", in whatever directory I'm in when I start tomcat. The issue is similar to this Jira issue, LOG4J2-2951, and that issue was just resolved in early December.

Issue Links

• links to: GitHub Pull Request #704