Take logback.xml to outside of the jar

Question

I am using logback with slf4j in my Maven Java project. Currently logback config file (logback.xml) is in src -> main -> resources folder. And it is working fine.
My issue is, I need to give my client the ability to configure logging as he prefers. For that logback.xml should be outside the jar when I build it. But as xml is inside src folder it is inside the jar and no one can change it after build.
How to achieve this?

Great question, well written. – thonnor Jun 21 '23 at 09:00 — thonnor, Jun 21 '23 at 09:00

score 15 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 11 '19 at 20:15

15

Specifying the location of the default configuration file as a system property You may specify the location of the default configuration file with a system property named "logback.configurationFile". The value of this property can be a URL, a resource on the class path or a path to a file external to the application.

java -Dlogback.configurationFile=/path/to/config.xml -jar myapp.jar

From offcial docs

edited Oct 11 '19 at 20:15

Zombies

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answered Jun 20 '18 at 11:48

Sem Grozovski

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if you want to do it through code https://stackoverflow.com/q/21885787/40570 – shabby Jan 14 '21 at 10:06
This question and answer relate to logback configuration in general. This solution does not work for spring. – Sridhar Jammalamadaka Oct 16 '21 at 04:27

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 20 '18 at 05:57

5

Logback config file location can be specified in application.properties or application.yml.

application.yml

logging:
  config: logback-spring.xml

This allows you to place jar and log-back.xml at the same folder.

Please note that logback-spring.xml file in your project folder should not be included in your jar. This can be achieved setting on build.gradle or pom.xml.

build.gradle

bootJar {
  archiveName 'your-project.jar'
  exclude("*.xml")
}

answered Nov 20 '18 at 05:57

Water

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Note: This is a Spring Boot specific answer – Ismail Yavuz Aug 16 '22 at 13:27
This is what I was looking for! Thank you! By the way, if you're using an `application.properties` file, then it's `logging.config=logback-spring.xml` – Kira Resari Dec 15 '22 at 08:09

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 21 '18 at 14:03

The logback.xml file needs to be on the classpath, but it doesn't need to be inside any specific jar. The details of how you want to do this depend on the exact deployment mechanism that's being used: How does whatever's starting this application set the classpath? Whatever that mechanism is, you should be able to configure it to include wherever you're putting the logback.xml file, and then just don't include in in the src/main/resources to be embedded in the jar file.

Depending on the complexity of what you're going for, you may find the maven-assembly-plugin useful for creating your distribution of dependencies.

Joe · Answer 4 · 2019-01-31T17:54:26.697

0

Using Scala SBT (1.2.1) on Windows:

Batch file:

 @cd %~dp0

 @set JAVA_OPTS=-Dlogback.configurationFile=logback.xml

 @sbt clean run

worked for me (strange ...)

edited Jan 31 '19 at 17:54

answered Jan 31 '19 at 17:17

Joe

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Take logback.xml to outside of the jar

4 Answers4