External log4j.xml file

Question

I am trying to run a jar with the log4j.xml file on the file system outside the jar like so:

java -jar MyJarName.jar -cp=/opt/companyName/pathToJar/ log4j.co         


        

Answer 1

you can define a default properties file in the jar. if no custom properties is defined you can use this default file.if a custom property is defined you can override the default property.

myjar.jar file contains log4j.default.configuration

you can run your program with this parameters to start your application

java  -jar -Dlog4j.configuration=log4j.properties  target\yourfile-v01_000_01_c002.jar

Example code

public static void main(String[] args) {
    String filename = System.getProperty("log4j.configuration");
    if(null==filename||filename.trim().equals("")) {
        logger.info("Using default log4j configuration log4j.default.properties.");
        logger.info("If you would like to change the default configuration please add following param before startup -Dlog4j.configuration=<log4jfile>");
        PropertyConfigurator.configure( Main.class.getResourceAsStream("/log4j.default.properties"));
    } else {
        File file = new File(filename);
        if(!file.exists()) System.out.println("It is not possible to load the given log4j properties file :"+file.getAbsolutePath());
        else PropertyConfigurator.configure(file.getAbsolutePath());

    }
}

Answer 2

this works:

java -jar -Dlog4j.configuration="file:d:\log4j.xml" myjar.jar

Answer 3

Have you tried java -Dlog4j.configuration=/path/to/log4j.xml -jar <rest-of-args>