>1) Is there a reason why the startup.sh script that comes bundled with >Tomcat 5.0.16 adds commons-logging-api.jar to the CLASSPATH? As far as >I can tell, it's the only script that uses it.
Yes, there's a good reason: tomcat internals use commons-logging to do their logging.
Yes, but why put it in the CLASSPATH and not in /server/lib? Doesn't this mean that any configuration would affect all webapps?
>2) Is there a recommended way to control what gets spewed into >catalina.out? The fact that all the messages I'm getting have an INFO >tag would indicate that this should be possible.
Yes, add a commons-logging configuration file to common/classes, e.g. as suggested in this link off the tomcat FAQ: http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/faq/misc.html#catalina.out
I saw that, and that has a config file for log4j, not commons-logging. There is no way to actually filter the output through the commons-logging config file. I'd like a way to only suppress catalina's output.
If I use a log4j.properties, it means I'd need to install log4j in /common/lib. It also means that I have to specify all logging config info in /common/classes instead of on a per-webapp basis (see http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg113292.html).
>3) In any case, why doesn't Tomcat just come with commons-logging.jar >and log4j.jar bundled in /server/libs?
Tomcat does not want to tie you into a specific logging implementation, e.g. log4j. Tomcat wants to make its logging available to webapps by default, so server/lib is not a possible location.
But doesn't this just lead to classloader hell?
>4) Is there a FAQ or HOWTO on recommended approaches to handling logging >in Tomcat somewhere?
It won't hurt to search the archives of this list, there are many answers there. The link above also has some information.
I'm sorry, but I have searched the archives, and there just doesn't seem to be one conclusive answer. I see a lot of e-mails talking about the use of commons-logging and how it causes all sorts of classloader wierdness.
What I'm looking for is a way to specify logging configuration for catalina that is independent of any webapps I may have.
I don't want 1 log4j.properties for everything. Is this possible? If so, how? I'd be more than happy to write up a HOW-TO if I could just figure this out, but I haven't stumbled across anything that works yet.
Thanks, -Mark
