Apache Log4j 2.13.0 Release Notes

The Apache Log4j 2 team is pleased to announce the Log4j 2.13.0 release!

Apache Log4j is a well known framework for logging application behavior. Log4j 2 is an upgrade to Log4j that provides significant improvements over its predecessor, Log4j 1.x, and provides many other modern features such as support for Markers, lambda expressions for lazy logging, property substitution using Lookups, multiple patterns on a PatternLayout and asynchronous Loggers. Another notable Log4j 2 feature is the ability to be “garbage-free” (avoid allocating temporary objects) while logging. In addition, Log4j 2 will not lose events while reconfiguring.

The artifacts may be downloaded from https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/download.html.

This release contains bugfixes and minor enhancements. Some of the new features in this release are:

  1. Log4j 2 now requires Java 8 or higher to build and run.
  2. Experimental support for Log4j 1 configuration files. See Log4j 2 Compatiblity with Log4j 1.
  3. The Logger API has been enhanced to support a builder pattern. This can dramatically improve the overhead of capturing location information. See Log Builder.
  4. Better integration with Spring Boot by providing access to Spring variables in Log4j 2 configuration files and allowing Log4j 2 system properties to be defined in the Spring configuration. See Logging in the Cloud.
  5. Support for accessing Kubernetes information via a Log4j 2 Lookup.
  6. The Gelf Layout now allows the message to be formatted using a PatternLayout pattern. Logging in the Cloud provides an example of this, as well as the use of the Spring and Kubernetes Lookups.

Due to a break in compatibility in the SLF4J binding, Log4j now ships with two versions of the SLF4J to Log4j adapters. log4j-slf4j-impl should be used with SLF4J 1.7.x and earlier and log4j-slf4j18-impl should be used with SLF4J 1.8.x and later.

Note that the XML, JSON and YAML formats changed in the 2.11.0 release: they no longer have the “timeMillis” attribute and instead have an “Instant” element with “epochSecond” and “nanoOfSecond” attributes.

The Log4j 2.13.0 API, as well as many core components, maintains binary compatibility with previous releases.

GA Release 2.13.0

Changes in this version include:

New Features

  • LOG4J2-2732: Add ThreadContext.putIfNotNull method. Thanks to Matt Pavlovich.
  • LOG4J2-2731: Add a Level Patttern Selector.
  • LOG4J2-63: Add experimental support for Log4j 1 configuration files.
  • LOG4J2-2716: Add the ability to lookup Kubernetes attributes in the Log4j configuration. Allow Log4j properties to be retrieved from the Spring environment if it is available.
  • LOG4J2-2710: Allow Spring Boot application properties to be accessed in the Log4j 2 configuration. Add lower and upper case Lookups.
  • LOG4J2-2639: Add builder pattern to Logger interface.

Fixed Bugs

  • LOG4J2-2058: Prevent recursive calls to java.util.LogManager.getLogger().
  • LOG4J2-2725: LOG4J2-2725 - Added try/finally around event.execute() for RingBufferLogEventHandler to clear memory correctly in case of exception/error Thanks to Dzmitry Anikechanka.
  • LOG4J2-2635: Wrong java version check in ThreadNameCachingStrategy. Thanks to Filipp Gunbin.
  • LOG4J2-2674: Use a less confusing name for the CompositeConfiguration source. Thanks to Anton Korenkov.
  • LOG4J2-2727: Add setKey method to Kafka Appender Builder. Thanks to Clément Mathieu.
  • LOG4J2-2707: ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException could occur with MAC address longer than 6 bytes. Thanks to Christian Frank.
  • LOG4J2-2712: The rolling file appenders would fail to compress the file after rollover if the file name matched the file pattern.
  • LOG4J2-2693: @PluginValue does not support attribute names besides “value”.
  • LOG4J2-2647: Validation blocks definition of script in properties configuration.
  • LOG4J2-2680: Set result of rename action to true if file was copied. Thanks to Guillermo Xavier Hurtado Garcia.
  • LOG4J-2672: Add automatic module names where missing. Thanks to Stephen Colebourne.
  • LOG4J2-2673: OutputStreamAppender.Builder ignores setFilter(). Thanks to Yuichi Sugimura.
  • LOG4J2-2725: Prevent a memory leak when async loggers throw errors. Thanks to Dzmitry Anikechanka.

Changes

  • LOG4J2-2701: Update Jackson to 2.9.10.
  • LOG4J2-2709: Allow message portion of GELF layout to be formatted using a PatternLayout. Allow ThreadContext attributes to be explicitly included or excluded in the GelfLayout.

Apache Log4j 2.13.0 requires a minimum of Java 8 to build and run. Log4j 2.3 was the last release that supported Java 6 and Log4j 2.11.2 is the last release to support Java 7.

For complete information on Apache Log4j 2, including instructions on how to submit bug reports, patches, or suggestions for improvement, see the Apache Apache Log4j 2 website:

https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/