haxx qua non

Grails 1.1 has changed logging setup completely, introducing a new DSL closure. For the most part it’s cool, but the syntax looks the same sometimes for both log level and appender assignments. I’ve updated my previous posts on debug logging and stacktrace.log. For the record, included below is the complete log4j closure I’m now using for a new Grails 1.1 project (or download it). Append this to the default Config.groovy file.

environments {
    development {
        log4j = {
            // in development mode, let's see all my log messages
            debug 'grails.app'
        }
    }

    production {
        def catalinaBase = System.properties.getProperty('catalina.base')
        if (!catalinaBase) catalinaBase = '.'   // just in case
        def logDirectory = "${catalinaBase}/logs"

        log4j = {
            appenders {
                // set up a log file in the standard tomcat area; be sure to use .toString() with ${}
                rollingFile name:'tomcatLog', file:"${logDirectory}/${appName}.log".toString(), maxFileSize:'100KB'
                'null' name:'stacktrace'
            }

            root {
                // change the root logger to my tomcatLog file
                error 'tomcatLog'
                additivity = true
            }

            // example for sending stacktraces to my tomcatLog file
            //error tomcatLog:'StackTrace'

            // set level for my messages; this uses the root logger (and thus the tomcatLog file)
            info 'grails.app'
        }
    }
}

The newest bit here is setting the log file to Tomcat’s log directory for production. Without that, Grails/Log4J will try to open files in the place where tomcat starts up (e.g. / or someplace you probably can’t write files). Also, the arguments to appenders (and layouts) are sent directly to Apache BeanUtils so must be Java Strings — use .toString() on your GStrings (a string with variable interpolation).

(I’ve also updated several of my other Grails posts for 1.0.4 and 1.1.)

Edit: fixed a syntax error that crept in between testing and posting.

Tags: grails, logging

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 11:21 am, was last modified on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 11:15 am, and is filed under meta, tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.