Logging folder configuration

[holub]

Documentation says:
http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/1.3.0.RC1/reference/html/howto-logging.html#howto-configure-logback-for-loggin

${LOG_FILE} if logging.file was set in Boot’s external configuration.
${LOG_PATH} if logging.path was set (representing a directory for log files to live in).

http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/1.3.0.RC1/reference/html/deployment-install.html#deployment-script-customization

PID_FOLDER The root name of the pid folder (/var/run by default).
LOG_FOLDER The name of the folder to put log files in (/var/log by default).
LOG_FILENAME The name of the log file in the LOG_FOLDER (<appname>.log by default).

As a result of different variables if we make configuration for executable jar it doesn't reflect on the actual log configuration.

[vpavic]

These are two different things - logging.file and logging.path refer to the optional file output whereas startup script environment variables refer to standard console output.

[wilkinsona]

Thanks, @vpavic.

[holub]

@vpavic why do we need LOG_FOLDER for startup script if it doesn't change behavior of the system? I'm expecting setting this variable should produce some output into the folder. But it doesn't.

[wilkinsona]

LOG_FOLDER does change the behaviour of the system. It controls the location of the file to which your application's console output is redirected. If you're looking for some help then, as described in the guidelines for contributing, please use StackOverflow. If you post a question there, please take the time to provide all the information that people will need to help you, for example:

• The location of your .jar file
• The location of your .conf file
• The contents of your .conf file

[holub]

I'm actually not looking for help here in this particular case. I'm actually trying to help awesome project be more awesome.
I can set 4 variables instead of 1 to have log files in one place.
Is it expected behavior of the system? If answer is 'yes', I don't understand the reason.

[vpavic]

@holub it seems that you are mixing console logging and file logging which are, again, two different things.

Console log is enabled by default and is generated using Logback's ConsoleAppender. When running your app as a system service, you'd generally want this output redirected to some file which is configured using LOG_FOLDER and LOG_FILENAME variables.

On the other hand, file log is optionally generated using RollingFileAppender if you trigger its configuration using relevant logging.* application properties. Note that enabling file log does not disable console log.

That being said, I can reproduce your problem of missing log in LOG_FOLDER when installing and running app as systemd service (this works fine using init.d service).

@wilkinsona, here is the relevant info:

buildscript {
    ext {
        springBootVersion = '1.3.0.RC1'
    }

    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath "org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:$springBootVersion"
    }
}

apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'spring-boot'

project.sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8

repositories {
    jcenter()
}

dependencies {
    compile 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
}

springBoot {
    executable = true
}

wrapper {
    gradleVersion = '2.8'
}

@RestController
@SpringBootApplication
public class HelloWorldApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(HelloWorldApplication.class, args);
    }

    @RequestMapping("/")
    public String home() {
        return "Hello World!";
    }

}

vedran@vedran-ws:~$ ll spring-boot-hello-world.*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 vedran vedran       30 Oct 24 00:46 spring-boot-hello-world.conf
-rwxrw-r-- 1 vedran vedran 13313816 Oct 24 00:16 spring-boot-hello-world.jar*

vedran@vedran-ws:~$ cat spring-boot-hello-world.conf 
LOG_FOLDER=/home/vedran
RUN_ARGS="--server.port=7979"

vedran@vedran-ws:~$ cat /etc/systemd/system/spring-boot-hello-world.service 
[Unit]
Description=spring-boot-hello-world
After=syslog.target

[Service]
User=vedran
WorkingDirectory=/var/tmp
ExecStart=/home/vedran/spring-boot-hello-world.jar

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

vedran@vedran-ws:~$ cat /etc/os-release 
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="15.04 (Vivid Vervet)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 15.04"
VERSION_ID="15.04"
HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"

vedran@vedran-ws:~$ uname -a
Linux vedran-ws 3.19.0-31-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Wed Oct 7 15:04:02 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Console log actually ends up in /var/log/syslog, and can be also queried using journalctl -u spring-boot-hello-world.service but nothing ends up in /home/vedran/spring-boot-hello-world.log.

[holub]

Thank you @vpavic for detailed explanation! It really makes the whole picture more clear.