LoggingFacility - controlling the logger that will be used

Question

I'm using Log4Net with Castle.Windsor, the LoggingFacility, and Log4netIntegration. The project I'm using this in involves NHibernate, which also talks to log4net.

What I'm trying to do is split the logs such that NHibernate ends up in one log (data-log.txt), while all the system logging ends up in a separate log (system-log.txt).

The problem I'm having is that it seems like the Logger injected by windsor will only write to the root logger in my log4net configuration. NHibernate looks for loggers named NHibernate or Nhibernate., so I'm able to divert those logs into the data-log.txt appender, but it also writes to the root logger.

So what I've got right now is logs from Windsor and NHibernate all end up with the root logger, and logs from NHibernate additionally end up at the nhibernate specific loggers.

Here is my log4net config section in my app.config:

<log4net xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://csharptest.net/downloads/schema/log4net.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<appender name="Console" type="log4net.Appender.ConsoleAppender">
  <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
    <conversionPattern value="%5level [%thread] (%file:%line) - %message%newline"/>
  </layout>
</appender>
<appender name="AspNetTraceAppender" type="log4net.Appender.AspNetTraceAppender">
  <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
    <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%property{NDC}] - %message%newline"/>
  </layout>
</appender>
<appender name="NHibernateLogAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
  <file value="data-log.txt" />
  <!-- various stuff -->
</appender>
<appender name="SystemLogAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
  <file value="system-log.txt" />
  <!-- various stuff -->
</appender>

<root>
  <level value="ALL" />
  <appender-ref ref="AspNetTraceAppender" />
  <appender-ref ref="Console" />      
</root>

<logger name="SystemLogger">
  <level value="ALL" />
  <appender-ref ref="SystemLogAppender" />
</logger>
<logger name="NHibernate">
  <level value="WARN" />
  <appender-ref ref="NHibernateLogAppender" />
</logger>    
<logger name="NHibernate.SQL">      
  <level value="DEBUG" />
  <appender-ref ref="NHibernateLogAppender"/>
</logger>

and windsor is getting configured by code like so container.AddFacility<LoggingFacility>(f => f.UseLog4Net().WithAppConfig());

How do I tell Windsor to aim for the SystemLogger instead of the root?

I know one way to do this is by creating a specific logger for each type that wants to use logging, but that seems like a great way to shoot yourself in the foot when you forget about that later.

Maciej Maciej · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-17T21:30:05

Have just the root logger with all appenders. Then use appender whitelist and blacklist filtering on logger name:

<appender name="NHibernateLogAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
  <file value="data-log.txt" />
  <!-- various stuff -->

  <filter type="log4net.Filter.LoggerMatchFilter">  
    <loggerToMatch value="NHibernate" />  
  </filter>
</appender>

<appender name="SystemLogAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
  <file value="system-log.txt" />
  <!-- various stuff -->

  <filter type="log4net.Filter.LoggerMatchFilter">  
    <loggerToMatch value="NHibernate" />  
    <acceptOnMatch value="false" />
  </filter>
</appender>

<root>
  <level value="ALL" />
  <appender-ref ref="NHibernateLogAppender" /> 
  <appender-ref ref="SystemLogAppender" />
</root>

LoggingFacility - controlling the logger that will be used

2 Answers