Configuring logging levels

In the CXF source repository there are several sample Java SE logging.properties files you can use to configure logging. For example, if you want to change the console logging level from WARNING to FINE, you need to update two properties in this logging.properties file as below:

.level= FINE
java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.level = FINE

Once this is done, you will need to set the -Djava.util.logging.config.file property to the location of the logging.properties file. As an example, the Ant target below has this property set:

<target name="runClient">
   <java classname="client.WSClient" fork="true">	    	
      <classpath>
         <pathelement location="${build.classes.dir}"/>
         <fileset dir="${env.CXF_HOME}/lib">
            <include name="*.jar"/>
         </fileset>
      </classpath>
      <jvmarg value="-Djava.util.logging.config.file=/usr/myclientapp/logging.properties"/>
   </java>
</target>

Alternatively, for SOAP clients, you can modify the Java-wide logging.properties file in the JDK_HOME/jre/lib folder, or for servlet-hosted web service providers, placing a logging.properties file in the WEB-INF/classes folder (see here for more details.)

Using Log4j Instead of java.util.logging

As noted above, CXF uses the java.util.logging package ("Java SE Logging") by default. But it is possible to switch CXF to instead use Log4J. This is achieved through the use of configuration files. There are two options to bootstrapping CXF logging and each is listed below:

  • Add the following system property to the classpath from which CXF is initialized:
-Dorg.apache.cxf.Logger=org.apache.cxf.common.logging.Log4jLogger
  • Add the file META-INF/cxf/org.apache.cxf.Logger to the classpath and make sure it contains the following content:
org.apache.cxf.common.logging.Log4jLogger

Please note, Log4jLogger was removed in Apache CXF 3.4.0 release (and beyond). Please consider using Slf4jLogger instead.

Using SLF4J Instead of java.util.logging (since 2.2.8)

As noted above, CXF uses the java.util.logging package by default. But it is possible to switch CXF to instead use SLF4J. This is achieved through the use of configuration files. There are two options to bootstrapping CXF logging and each is listed below:

  • Add the following system property to the classpath from which CXF is initialized:
-Dorg.apache.cxf.Logger=org.apache.cxf.common.logging.Slf4jLogger
  • Add the file META-INF/cxf/org.apache.cxf.Logger to the classpath and make sure it contains the following content:
org.apache.cxf.common.logging.Slf4jLogger