Log4j.properties文件自动加载

org.apache.log4j.LogManager类有一个静态块,首先是找 log4j.xml ，找不到的情况下才找 log4j.properties

Java code

static {
    // By default we use a DefaultRepositorySelector which always returns 'h'.
    Hierarchy h = new Hierarchy(new RootLogger((Level) Level.DEBUG));
    repositorySelector = new DefaultRepositorySelector(h);

    /** Search for the properties file log4j.properties in the CLASSPATH.  */
    String override =OptionConverter.getSystemProperty(DEFAULT_INIT_OVERRIDE_KEY,
                               null);

    // if there is no default init override, then get the resource
    // specified by the user or the default config file.
    if(override == null || "false".equalsIgnoreCase(override)) {

      String configurationOptionStr = OptionConverter.getSystemProperty(
                              DEFAULT_CONFIGURATION_KEY, 
                              null);

      String configuratorClassName = OptionConverter.getSystemProperty(
                                                   CONFIGURATOR_CLASS_KEY, 
                           null);

      URL url = null;

      // if the user has not specified the log4j.configuration
      // property, we search first for the file "log4j.xml" and then
      // "log4j.properties"
      if(configurationOptionStr == null) {    
    url = Loader.getResource(DEFAULT_XML_CONFIGURATION_FILE);
    if(url == null) {
      url = Loader.getResource(DEFAULT_CONFIGURATION_FILE);
    }
      } else {
    try {
      url = new URL(configurationOptionStr);
    } catch (MalformedURLException ex) {
      // so, resource is not a URL:
      // attempt to get the resource from the class path
      url = Loader.getResource(configurationOptionStr); 
    }    
      }
      
      // If we have a non-null url, then delegate the rest of the
      // configuration to the OptionConverter.selectAndConfigure
      // method.
      if(url != null) {
    LogLog.debug("Using URL ["+url+"] for automatic log4j configuration.");      
    OptionConverter.selectAndConfigure(url, configuratorClassName, 
                       LogManager.getLoggerRepository());
      } else {
    LogLog.debug("Could not find resource: ["+configurationOptionStr+"].");
      }
    }  
  }

换句话说，是什么呢？也就是说：

1. 获取系统属性，看是否用户设置了override。默认是不设置的。

2. 如果确实没有设置，那么尝试找一下，有没有log4j.xml，有则加载。

3. 如果还没有，那么尝试找一下，有没有log4j.properites，有则加载。

其中，2、3里提到的“尝试找一下”，可能是去哪个目录里面找呢？翻译了一下，效果不好，还是上原文清晰 ：

1. Search for resource using the thread context class loader under Java2. If that fails, search for resource using the class loader that loaded this class (Loader). Under JDK 1.1, only the the class loader that loaded this class (Loader) is used.
2. Try one last time with ClassLoader.getSystemResource(resource), that is is using the system class loader in JDK 1.2 and virtual machine's built-in class loader in JDK 1.1. 

 

所以，你把log4j.xml或log4j.properties放在这些目录下，那么log4j会“自动去加载”到，不用程序里手工写加载代码了。

2，然后是怎么找呢：如下代码，是委托给classloader(加载Loader类的classloader)去找了，

Java code

   
   
      
    
    //
    
     We could not find resource. Ler us now try with the
      
    
    //
    
     classloader that loaded this class.
    
    
      classLoader = Loader.
    
    class.getClassLoader(); 
      
    
    if(classLoader != 
    
    null) {
        LogLog.debug("Trying to find ["+resource+"] using "+classLoader
                 +" class loader.");
        url = classLoader.getResource(resource);
        
    
    if(url != 
    
    null) {
          
    
    return url;
        }
      }
   
   

3，classloader的getResource(...)又是怎么找呢：总是先从父classloader里去找，找不到才自己去找

Java code

   
   
    
    
    public URL getResource(String name) {
    URL url;
    
    
    if (parent != 
    
    null) {
        url = parent.getResource(name);
    } 
    
    else {
        url = getBootstrapResource(name);
    }
    
    
    if (url == 
    
    null) {
        url = findResource(name);
    }
    
    
    return url;
    }
   
   

总结：对于不同的应用服务器(或者web服务器)来说，classloader的层次不尽相同。这里以最简单的tomcat来说，如果你的应用是部署到tomcat下的，使用log4j配置文件的顺序就是$TOMCAT_HOME/lib/log4j.xml或者log4j.properties==>你自己web应用/WEB-INF/classes(或者lib)/log4j.xml或者log4j.properties.
对于WEB-INF下是classes优先还是lib优先 你可以自己测试一下。