that is correct. you should only see WARN on up. I verified it: this only logs the WARN when run against your log4j.xml.
import org.apache.log4j.Logger; public class L { public static void main (String[] args) { Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(L.class); logger.info("info"); logger.warn("warn"); } } you can add debug="true" to the log4j:configuration element, that would give confirmation that the correct file is being parsed (though the parse messages going away kind of proves that anyway). are you sure that all the debug messages are from log4j (or from the log4j instance that you are fiddling with)? A good way to check is to message with the layout and see if the log messages change when you change the layout.... ■ DOUGLAS E. WEGSCHEID // LEAD ENGINEER (269) 923-5278 // douglas_e_wegsch...@whirlpool.com "A wrong note played hesitatingly is a wrong note. A wrong note played with conviction is interpretation." Oliver Ruebenacker <cur...@gmail.com> wrote on 09/26/2012 02:57:40 PM: > Thanks! That made the parse error messages disappear. > > Unfortunately, the file still seems to have no effect. > > Let me check whether I got that right: > > <root> > <level value="WARN" /> > <appender-ref ref="stdout"/> > </root> > > I would assume that this sets log level to WARN for all code unless > specified otherwise, right?