Log4j2 is not reading configuration file

Please be nice, I'm brand new to logging and am encountering some issues with log4j2, even after trying many things and following the documentation to a tee.

I have spent my entire morning trying to figure out how to get log4j2 to print a simple debug message. I have consulted every resource, relevant piece of documentation, and answer on StackOverflow.

It seems that log4j2 is always using the default configuration no matter what I do. I have tried setting the configuration file location from the command line, still with no luck.

There are other dependencies in my classpath that use logging, such as Playwright. I am not sure if this affects my issue.

Running mvn clean test -Dlog4j.debug produces the following message. I am not sure exactly what this means, or if it is relevant, after searching for a while:

WARN StatusLogger Multiple logging implementations found:
Factory: org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl.Log4jContextFactory, Weighting: 10
Factory: org.apache.logging.slf4j.SLF4JLoggerContextFactory, Weighting: 15
Using factory: org.apache.logging.slf4j.SLF4JLoggerContextFactory

Java:

import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;

class ExampleClass {
    static Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger();

    void main() {
        logger.debug("Hello world")
    }
}

src/main/resources/log4j2.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Configuration status="trace">
    <Appenders>
        <Console name="Console" target="SYSTEM_OUT">
            <PatternLayout pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n"/>
        </Console>
    </Appenders>
    <Loggers>
        <Root level="all">
            <AppenderRef ref="Console"/>
        </Root>
    </Loggers>
</Configuration>

pom.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

  <groupId>com.toughdata.autogrowth</groupId>
  <artifactId>autogrowth</artifactId>
  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

  <name>autogrowth</name>
  <!-- FIXME change it to the project's website -->
  <url>http://www.example.com</url>

  <properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <!--maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target-->
    <maven.compiler.release>17</maven.compiler.release>
  </properties>

  <repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>jitpack.io</id>
        <url>https://jitpack.io</url>
    </repository>
  </repositories>

  <build>
    <pluginManagement><!-- lock down plugins versions to avoid using Maven defaults (may be moved to parent pom) -->
      <plugins>

        <!-- clean lifecycle, see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/lifecycles.html#clean_Lifecycle -->
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.1.0</version>
        </plugin>
        <!-- default lifecycle, jar packaging: see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/default-bindings.html#Plugin_bindings_for_jar_packaging -->
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.0.2</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.8.0</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.22.1</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
          <configuration>
            <archive>
              <manifest>
                <mainClass>com.toughdata.autogrowth.CLI</mainClass>
              </manifest>
            </archive>
            <descriptorRefs>
              <descriptorRef>jar-with-dependencies</descriptorRef>
            </descriptorRefs>
          </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.0.2</version>
          <configuration>
              <archive>
                  <manifest>
                      <addClasspath>true</addClasspath>
                      <classpathPrefix>lib/</classpathPrefix>
                      <mainClass>com.toughdata.autogrowth.CLI</mainClass>
                  </manifest>
              </archive>
          </configuration>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.5.2</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>2.8.2</version>
        </plugin>
        <!-- site lifecycle, see https://maven.apache.org/ref/current/maven-core/lifecycles.html#site_Lifecycle -->
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.7.1</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
          <artifactId>maven-project-info-reports-plugin</artifactId>
          <version>3.0.0</version>
        </plugin>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
            <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.1.0</version>
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <goals>
                  <goal>java</goal>
                </goals>
              </execution>
            </executions>
          </plugin>
      </plugins>
    </pluginManagement>

      <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.2.0</version>
            <configuration>    
                <mainClass>com.toughdata.autogrowth.server.Server</mainClass>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
          <plugin>
              <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
              <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
              <configuration>
                  <source>9</source>
                  <target>9</target>
              </configuration>
          </plugin>
          <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.6.1</version>
          </plugin>
      </plugins>
    
      <resources>
          <resource>
              <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
          </resource>
      </resources>

  </build>

  <dependencies>
    <!-- Argparse -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>net.sourceforge.argparse4j</groupId>
      <artifactId>argparse4j</artifactId>
      <version>0.9.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Playwright -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
      <artifactId>playwright</artifactId>
      <version>1.39.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Junit -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
        <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
        <version>5.10.0</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Postgres -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
        <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
        <version>42.7.1</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Spring data JPA -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
        <version>3.2.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Spring boot web -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        <version>3.2.0</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Spring boot test -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
        <version>3.2.0</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>


    <!-- JavaMail -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.sun.mail</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.mail</artifactId>
        <version>1.6.2</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- JSON -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.json</groupId>
        <artifactId>json</artifactId>
        <version>20230618</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Log4j -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.17.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
        <version>2.17.1</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>

</project>

Solution

there are several issues

first of all why you use spring-boot without inheriting the project from parent ?
2nd, spring boot use logback by default, to use properly log4j you have to exclude logback ! there are other stuff that are redundant. Try to simplify your project following spring-boot documentation !

this is a sample version of your pom, simplified

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <!-- EDIT #1 : set project parent to inherit structure and dependencies-->
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>3.2.0</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>

    <groupId>com.toughdata.autogrowth</groupId>
    <artifactId>autogrowth</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <name>autogrowth</name>
    <!-- FIXME change it to the project's website -->
    <url>http://www.example.com</url>

    <properties>
        <!-- EDIT #2: do not need compiler.release/target/source, just java.version, spring boot do the magic -->
        <java.version>17</java.version>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>

    <repositories>
        <repository>
            <id>jitpack.io</id>
            <url>https://jitpack.io</url>
        </repository>
    </repositories>

    <build>
        <!--EDIT #3: complete remove pluginManagement, spring-boot do the magic for you -->
        <plugins>
            <!--EDIT #4 removing version and configuration from maven-plugin, is inherited-->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
            <!--EDIT #5 removing compiler, all you need is inherited -->
        </plugins>

        <!--EDIT #6 removing src/main/resources, is maven default-->
    </build>

    <dependencies>
        <!-- Argparse -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>net.sourceforge.argparse4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>argparse4j</artifactId>
            <version>0.9.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Playwright -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
            <artifactId>playwright</artifactId>
            <version>1.39.0</version>
        </dependency>

        <!--EDIT #7 removing version from all dependencies inherited-->
        <!-- Junit -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Postgres -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
            <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring data JPA -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring boot web -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
            <!-- EDIT #8 - exluding default logging system to avoid conflicts -->
            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
                    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring boot test -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- JavaMail -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.sun.mail</groupId>
            <artifactId>javax.mail</artifactId>
            <version>1.6.2</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- JSON -->
        <!-- QUESTION ?!? do you really need this, i don't think so !-->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.json</groupId>
            <artifactId>json</artifactId>
            <version>20230618</version>
        </dependency>

        <!--EDIT #9 - removing log4j explicit version, adding via spring-boot dependency-->
        <!-- Log4j -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-log4j2</artifactId>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

</project>