log4j.properties not found.

[Brian McGovern <bm...@imediainc.com>]

I have a problem that may be easy to resolve and if not, may make me not use log4j anymore.  Heres whats going on.  I have an app that logs with log4j perfectly.  I have a log4j.properties file in my WEB-INF\classes directory and instantiate the logger like this.

private static final Logger zLogger = Logger.getLogger(RepsMainController.class);
zLogger.debug("something logged here");

However when I run any servlet, in catalina.out i get the following error:

log4j:ERROR Could not read configuration file [log4j.properties].
java.io.FileNotFoundException: log4j.properties (The system cannot find the file specified)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.open(Native Method)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
        at org.apache.log4j.PropertyConfigurator.doConfigure(PropertyConfigurator.java:297)
        at org.apache.log4j.PropertyConfigurator.configure(PropertyConfigurator.java:315)
        at com.imediainc.nycballet.nycbbuilder.dataaccess.DBConnection.getConnection(Unknown Source)
        at com.imediainc.nycballet.nycbbuilder.dataaccess.NYCBData.getAllReps(Unknown Source)
        at com.imediainc.nycballet.nycbbuilder.control.RepsMainController.execute(Unknown Source)
        at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processActionPerform(RequestProcessor.java:421)
        at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(RequestProcessor.java:226)
        at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(ActionServlet.java:1164)
        at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doGet(ActionServlet.java:397)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:689)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:237)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:157)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:704)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:474)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:409)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:312)
        at org.apache.jasper.runtime.PageContextImpl.doForward(PageContextImpl.java:670)
        at org.apache.jasper.runtime.PageContextImpl.forward(PageContextImpl.java:637)
        at org.apache.jsp.reps.index_jsp._jspService(index_jsp.java:43)
        at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(HttpJspBase.java:94)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
        at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:324)
        at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:292)
        at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:236)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:237)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:157)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:214)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invokeInternal(StandardContextValve.java:198)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:152)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:137)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)
        at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:118)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:102)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:929)
        at org.apache.coyote.tomcat5.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:160)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:799)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11Protocol.java:705)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.TcpWorkerThread.runIt(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:577)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:683)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
log4j:ERROR Ignoring configuration file [log4j.properties].
AbandonedObjectPool is used (org.apache.commons.dbcp.AbandonedObjectPool@1195c2b)
   LogAbandoned: true
   RemoveAbandoned: true
   RemoveAbandonedTimeout: 60


I can fix this error by adding an system wide environment variable called log4j.configuration in bin/startup.sh.  


My problem is this:  Why do I have to declare log4j.configuration and point it to an APP SPECIFIC properties file.  What if I wanted more than 1 app but not all to use log4j?  Either I'm doing something wrong (very likely) or log4j has a flaw in design (highly unlikely).  Can anyone explain what my problem is?

Thanks
-B