[JBoss-dev] Design: Plans to decouple JBoss from log4j

[Randahl Fink Isaksen]

Are there any plans to decouple JBoss from the logging system used?   According to the docs it seems JBoss is currently tightly coupled to log4j. I have absolutely nothing against log4j, for all I know it is (one of) the best logging systems available to the Java platform. However, I do think JBoss ought to be independent of the logging system. When you set up JBoss in your server environment you have the freedom to choose whichever database you want, if you do not want to use the prepackaged HyperSonic database, but, surprisingly, there is no way around the prepackaged logging system.   If you are in an environment with several different running applications there is a big chance you have already chosen a preferred logging system when you start using JBoss, and there is no guarantee that your preferred logging system happens to be log4j. One obvious choice of course being Java’s built in java.util.logging system – but there are many other options... your logging system written by your own company, for instance.   I noticed on jakarta.apache.org that they have written a logging decoupling mechanism as part of their Jakarta Commons package. Without knowing the details of JBoss development at all, I would like to raise the question of whether JBoss could use that package.   Since logging is a central part of JBoss I would imagine that decoupling JBoss from its logging system had better happen sooner than later – the code base is growing rapidly and so is the coupling to log4j.     Randahl