Package org.apache.commons.logging

Class LogFactory

java.lang.Object
org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory
Direct Known Subclasses:
Log4jApiLogFactory, LogFactoryImpl, Slf4jLogFactory
public abstract class LogFactory extends Object
Factory for creating Log instances, with discovery and configuration features similar to that employed by standard Java APIs such as JAXP.

IMPLEMENTATION NOTE - This implementation is heavily based on the SAXParserFactory and DocumentBuilderFactory implementations (corresponding to the JAXP pluggability APIs) found in Apache Xerces.

  • Field Summary

    Fields
    Modifier and Type
    Field
    Description
    static final String
    DIAGNOSTICS_DEST_PROPERTY
    The name (org.apache.commons.logging.diagnostics.dest) of the property used to enable internal commons-logging diagnostic output, in order to get information on what logging implementations are being discovered, what class loaders they are loaded through, etc.
    protected static Hashtable<ClassLoader,LogFactory>
    factories
    The previously constructed LogFactory instances, keyed by the ClassLoader with which it was created.
    static final String
    FACTORY_DEFAULT
    The fully qualified class name of the fallback LogFactory implementation class to use, if no other can be found.
    static final String
    FACTORY_PROPERTIES
    The name (commons-logging.properties) of the properties file to search for.
    static final String
    FACTORY_PROPERTY
    The name (org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory) of the property used to identify the LogFactory implementation class name.
    static final String
    HASHTABLE_IMPLEMENTATION_PROPERTY
    Setting this system property (org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory.HashtableImpl) value allows the Hashtable used to store class loaders to be substituted by an alternative implementation.
    protected static LogFactory
    nullClassLoaderFactory
    Deprecated.
    since 1.1.2
    static final String
    PRIORITY_KEY
    The name (priority) of the key in the configuration file used to specify the priority of that particular configuration file.
    protected static final String
    SERVICE_ID
    JDK 1.3+ 'Service Provider' specification.
    static final String
    TCCL_KEY
    The name (use_tccl) of the key in the configuration file used to specify whether logging classes should be loaded via the thread context class loader (TCCL), or not.

  • Constructor Summary

    Constructors
    Modifier
    Constructor
    Description
    protected
    LogFactory()
    Constructs a new instance.

  • Method Summary

    Modifier and Type
    Method
    Description
    protected static Object
    createFactory(String factoryClassName, ClassLoader classLoader)
    Creates a LogFactory object or a LogConfigurationException object.
    protected static ClassLoader
    directGetContextClassLoader()
    Gets the thread context class loader if available; otherwise return null.
    abstract Object
    getAttribute(String name)
    Gets the configuration attribute with the specified name (if any), or null if there is no such attribute.
    abstract String[]
    getAttributeNames()
    Gets an array containing the names of all currently defined configuration attributes.
    protected static ClassLoader
    getClassLoader(Class<?> clazz)
    Safely get access to the class loader for the specified class.
    protected static ClassLoader
    getContextClassLoader()
    Gets the current context class loader.
    static LogFactory
    getFactory()
    Constructs (if necessary) and return a LogFactory instance, using the following ordered lookup procedure to determine the name of the implementation class to be loaded.
    abstract Log
    getInstance(Class<?> clazz)
    Gets a Log for the given class.
    abstract Log
    getInstance(String name)
    Gets a (possibly new) Log instance, using the factory's current set of configuration attributes.
    static Log
    getLog(Class<?> clazz)
    Gets a named logger, without the application having to care about factories.
    static Log
    getLog(String name)
    Gets a named logger, without the application having to care about factories.
    protected static void
    handleThrowable(Throwable t)
    Checks whether the supplied Throwable is one that needs to be re-thrown and ignores all others.
    protected static boolean
    isDiagnosticsEnabled()
    Tests whether the user enabled internal logging.
    protected static final void
    logRawDiagnostic(String msg)
    Writes the specified message to the internal logging destination.
    protected static LogFactory
    newFactory(String factoryClass, ClassLoader classLoader)
    Method provided for backwards compatibility; see newFactory version that takes 3 parameters.
    protected static LogFactory
    newFactory(String factoryClass, ClassLoader classLoader, ClassLoader contextClassLoader)
    Gets a new instance of the specified LogFactory implementation class, loaded by the specified class loader.
    static String
    objectId(Object obj)
    Returns a string that uniquely identifies the specified object, including its class.
    abstract void
    release()
    Releases any internal references to previously created Log instances returned by this factory.
    static void
    release(ClassLoader classLoader)
    Releases any internal references to previously created LogFactory instances that have been associated with the specified class loader (if any), after calling the instance method release() on each of them.
    static void
    releaseAll()
    Release any internal references to previously created LogFactory instances, after calling the instance method release() on each of them.
    abstract void
    removeAttribute(String name)
    Removes any configuration attribute associated with the specified name.
    abstract void
    setAttribute(String name, Object value)
    Sets the configuration attribute with the specified name.

    Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

    clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

  • Field Details

    • PRIORITY_KEY

      public static final String PRIORITY_KEY
      The name (priority) of the key in the configuration file used to specify the priority of that particular configuration file. The associated value is a floating-point number; higher values take priority over lower values.
      See Also:

    • TCCL_KEY

      public static final String TCCL_KEY
      The name (use_tccl) of the key in the configuration file used to specify whether logging classes should be loaded via the thread context class loader (TCCL), or not. By default, the TCCL is used.
      See Also:

    • FACTORY_PROPERTY

      public static final String FACTORY_PROPERTY
      The name (org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory) of the property used to identify the LogFactory implementation class name. This can be used as a system property, or as an entry in a configuration properties file.
      See Also:

    • FACTORY_DEFAULT

      public static final String FACTORY_DEFAULT
      The fully qualified class name of the fallback LogFactory implementation class to use, if no other can be found.
      See Also:

    • FACTORY_PROPERTIES

      public static final String FACTORY_PROPERTIES
      The name (commons-logging.properties) of the properties file to search for.
      See Also:

    • SERVICE_ID

      protected static final String SERVICE_ID
      JDK 1.3+ 'Service Provider' specification.
      See Also:

    • DIAGNOSTICS_DEST_PROPERTY

      public static final String DIAGNOSTICS_DEST_PROPERTY
      The name (org.apache.commons.logging.diagnostics.dest) of the property used to enable internal commons-logging diagnostic output, in order to get information on what logging implementations are being discovered, what class loaders they are loaded through, etc.

      If a system property of this name is set then the value is assumed to be the name of a file. The special strings STDOUT or STDERR (case-sensitive) indicate output to System.out and System.err respectively.

      Diagnostic logging should be used only to debug problematic configurations and should not be set in normal production use.

      See Also:

    • HASHTABLE_IMPLEMENTATION_PROPERTY

      public static final String HASHTABLE_IMPLEMENTATION_PROPERTY
      Setting this system property (org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory.HashtableImpl) value allows the Hashtable used to store class loaders to be substituted by an alternative implementation.

      Note: LogFactory will print: 

       [ERROR] LogFactory: Load of custom hash table failed

      to system error and then continue using a standard Hashtable.

      Usage: Set this property when Java is invoked and LogFactory will attempt to load a new instance of the given implementation class. For example, running the following ant scriplet: 

        <java classname="${test.runner}" fork="yes" failonerror="${test.failonerror}">
     ...
     <sysproperty
        key="org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory.HashtableImpl"
        value="org.apache.commons.logging.AltHashtable"/>
  </java>

      will mean that LogFactory will load an instance of org.apache.commons.logging.AltHashtable.

      A typical use case is to allow a custom Hashtable implementation using weak references to be substituted. This will allow class loaders to be garbage collected without the need to release them (on 1.3+ JVMs only, of course ;).

      See Also:

    • factories

      protected static Hashtable<ClassLoader,LogFactory> factories
      The previously constructed LogFactory instances, keyed by the ClassLoader with which it was created.

    • nullClassLoaderFactory

      @Deprecated protected static volatile LogFactory nullClassLoaderFactory
      Deprecated.
      since 1.1.2
      Previously constructed LogFactory instance as in the factories map, but for the case where getClassLoader returns null. This can happen when:
      • using JDK1.1 and the calling code is loaded via the system class loader (very common)
      • using JDK1.2+ and the calling code is loaded via the boot class loader (only likely for embedded systems work).
      Note that factories is a Hashtable (not a HashMap), and hash tables don't allow null as a key.

  • Constructor Details

    • LogFactory

      protected LogFactory()
      Constructs a new instance.

  • Method Details

    • createFactory

      protected static Object createFactory(String factoryClassName, ClassLoader classLoader)
      Creates a LogFactory object or a LogConfigurationException object.
      Parameters:
      factoryClassName - Factory class.
      classLoader - used to load the specified factory class. This is expected to be either the TCCL or the class loader which loaded this class. Note that the class loader which loaded this class might be "null" (for example, the boot loader) for embedded systems.
      Returns:
      either a LogFactory object or a LogConfigurationException object.
      Since:
      1.1

    • directGetContextClassLoader

      protected static ClassLoader directGetContextClassLoader() throws LogConfigurationException
      Gets the thread context class loader if available; otherwise return null.

      Most/all code should call getContextClassLoaderInternal rather than calling this method directly.

      The thread context class loader is available for JDK 1.2 or later, if certain security conditions are met.

      Note that no internal logging is done within this method because this method is called every time LogFactory.getLogger() is called, and we don't want too much output generated here.

      Returns:
      the thread's context class loader or null if the Java security policy forbids access to the context class loader from one of the classes in the current call stack.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if a suitable class loader cannot be identified.
      Since:
      1.1

    • getClassLoader

      protected static ClassLoader getClassLoader(Class<?> clazz)
      Safely get access to the class loader for the specified class.

      Theoretically, calling getClassLoader can throw a security exception, and so should be done under an AccessController in order to provide maximum flexibility. However in practice people don't appear to use security policies that forbid getClassLoader calls. So for the moment all code is written to call this method rather than Class.getClassLoader, so that we could put AccessController stuff in this method without any disruption later if we need to.

      Even when using an AccessController, however, this method can still throw SecurityException. Commons Logging basically relies on the ability to access class loaders. A policy that forbids all class loader access will also prevent commons-logging from working: currently this method will throw an exception preventing the entire app from starting up. Maybe it would be good to detect this situation and just disable all commons-logging? Not high priority though - as stated above, security policies that prevent class loader access aren't common.

      Note that returning an object fetched via an AccessController would technically be a security flaw anyway; untrusted code that has access to a trusted JCL library could use it to fetch the class loader for a class even when forbidden to do so directly.

      Parameters:
      clazz - Class.
      Returns:
      a ClassLoader.
      Since:
      1.1

    • getContextClassLoader

      protected static ClassLoader getContextClassLoader() throws LogConfigurationException
      Gets the current context class loader.

      In versions prior to 1.1, this method did not use an AccessController. In version 1.1, an AccessController wrapper was incorrectly added to this method, causing a minor security flaw.

      In version 1.1.1 this change was reverted; this method no longer uses an AccessController. User code wishing to obtain the context class loader must invoke this method via AccessController.doPrivileged if it needs support for that.

      Returns:
      the context class loader associated with the current thread, or null if security doesn't allow it.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if there was some weird error while attempting to get the context class loader.

    • getFactory

      public static LogFactory getFactory() throws LogConfigurationException
      Constructs (if necessary) and return a LogFactory instance, using the following ordered lookup procedure to determine the name of the implementation class to be loaded.
      • The org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory system property.
      • The JDK 1.3 Service Discovery mechanism
      • Use the properties file commons-logging.properties file, if found in the class path of this class. The configuration file is in standard Properties format and contains the fully qualified name of the implementation class with the key being the system property defined above.
      • Fall back to a default implementation class (org.apache.commons.logging.impl.LogFactoryImpl).

      NOTE - If the properties file method of identifying the LogFactory implementation class is utilized, all of the properties defined in this file will be set as configuration attributes on the corresponding LogFactory instance.

      NOTE - In a multi-threaded environment it is possible that two different instances will be returned for the same class loader environment.

      Returns:
      a LogFactory.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if the implementation class is not available or cannot be instantiated.

    • getLog

      public static Log getLog(Class<?> clazz) throws LogConfigurationException
      Gets a named logger, without the application having to care about factories.
      Parameters:
      clazz - Class from which a log name will be derived
      Returns:
      a named logger.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if a suitable Log instance cannot be returned

    • getLog

      public static Log getLog(String name) throws LogConfigurationException
      Gets a named logger, without the application having to care about factories.
      Parameters:
      name - Logical name of the Log instance to be returned (the meaning of this name is only known to the underlying logging implementation that is being wrapped)
      Returns:
      a named logger.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if a suitable Log instance cannot be returned

    • handleThrowable

      protected static void handleThrowable(Throwable t)
      Checks whether the supplied Throwable is one that needs to be re-thrown and ignores all others. The following errors are re-thrown:
      • ThreadDeath
      • VirtualMachineError
      Parameters:
      t - the Throwable to check

    • isDiagnosticsEnabled

      protected static boolean isDiagnosticsEnabled()
      Tests whether the user enabled internal logging.

      By the way, sorry for the incorrect grammar, but calling this method areDiagnosticsEnabled just isn't Java beans style.

      Returns:
      true if calls to logDiagnostic will have any effect.
      Since:
      1.1

    • logRawDiagnostic

      protected static final void logRawDiagnostic(String msg)
      Writes the specified message to the internal logging destination.
      Parameters:
      msg - is the diagnostic message to be output.
      Since:
      1.1

    • newFactory

      protected static LogFactory newFactory(String factoryClass, ClassLoader classLoader)
      Method provided for backwards compatibility; see newFactory version that takes 3 parameters.

      This method would only ever be called in some rather odd situation. Note that this method is static, so overriding in a subclass doesn't have any effect unless this method is called from a method in that subclass. However this method only makes sense to use from the getFactory method, and as that is almost always invoked via LogFactory.getFactory, any custom definition in a subclass would be pointless. Only a class with a custom getFactory method, then invoked directly via CustomFactoryImpl.getFactory or similar would ever call this. Anyway, it's here just in case, though the "managed class loader" value output to the diagnostics will not report the correct value.

      Parameters:
      factoryClass - factory class.
      classLoader - class loader.
      Returns:
      a LogFactory.

    • newFactory

      protected static LogFactory newFactory(String factoryClass, ClassLoader classLoader, ClassLoader contextClassLoader) throws LogConfigurationException
      Gets a new instance of the specified LogFactory implementation class, loaded by the specified class loader. If that fails, try the class loader used to load this (abstract) LogFactory.

      ClassLoader conflicts

      Note that there can be problems if the specified ClassLoader is not the same as the class loader that loaded this class, that is, when loading a concrete LogFactory subclass via a context class loader.

      The problem is the same one that can occur when loading a concrete Log subclass via a context class loader.

      The problem occurs when code running in the context class loader calls class X which was loaded via a parent class loader, and class X then calls LogFactory.getFactory (either directly or via LogFactory.getLog). Because class X was loaded via the parent, it binds to LogFactory loaded via the parent. When the code in this method finds some LogFactoryYYYY class in the child (context) class loader, and there also happens to be a LogFactory class defined in the child class loader, then LogFactoryYYYY will be bound to LogFactory@childloader. It cannot be cast to LogFactory@parentloader, that is, this method cannot return the object as the desired type. Note that it doesn't matter if the LogFactory class in the child class loader is identical to the LogFactory class in the parent class loader, they are not compatible.

      The solution taken here is to simply print out an error message when this occurs then throw an exception. The deployer of the application must ensure they remove all occurrences of the LogFactory class from the child class loader in order to resolve the issue. Note that they do not have to move the custom LogFactory subclass; that is ok as long as the only LogFactory class it can find to bind to is in the parent class loader.

      Parameters:
      factoryClass - Fully qualified name of the LogFactory implementation class
      classLoader - ClassLoader from which to load this class
      contextClassLoader - is the context that this new factory will manage logging for.
      Returns:
      a new instance of the specified LogFactory.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if a suitable instance cannot be created
      Since:
      1.1

    • objectId

      public static String objectId(Object obj)
      Returns a string that uniquely identifies the specified object, including its class.

      The returned string is of form "className@hashCode", that is, is the same as the return value of the Object.toString() method, but works even when the specified object's class has overridden the toString method.

      Parameters:
      obj - may be null.
      Returns:
      a string of form className@hashCode, or "null" if obj is null.
      Since:
      1.1

    • release

      public static void release(ClassLoader classLoader)
      Releases any internal references to previously created LogFactory instances that have been associated with the specified class loader (if any), after calling the instance method release() on each of them.
      Parameters:
      classLoader - ClassLoader for which to release the LogFactory

    • releaseAll

      public static void releaseAll()
      Release any internal references to previously created LogFactory instances, after calling the instance method release() on each of them. This is useful in environments like servlet containers, which implement application reloading by throwing away a ClassLoader. Dangling references to objects in that class loader would prevent garbage collection.

    • getAttribute

      public abstract Object getAttribute(String name)
      Gets the configuration attribute with the specified name (if any), or null if there is no such attribute.
      Parameters:
      name - Name of the attribute to return
      Returns:
      the configuration attribute with the specified name.

    • getAttributeNames

      public abstract String[] getAttributeNames()
      Gets an array containing the names of all currently defined configuration attributes. If there are no such attributes, a zero length array is returned.
      Returns:
      an array containing the names of all currently defined configuration attributes

    • getInstance

      public abstract Log getInstance(Class<?> clazz) throws LogConfigurationException
      Gets a Log for the given class.
      Parameters:
      clazz - Class for which a suitable Log name will be derived
      Returns:
      a name from the specified class.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if a suitable Log instance cannot be returned

    • getInstance

      public abstract Log getInstance(String name) throws LogConfigurationException
      Gets a (possibly new) Log instance, using the factory's current set of configuration attributes.

      NOTE - Depending upon the implementation of the LogFactory you are using, the Log instance you are returned may or may not be local to the current application, and may or may not be returned again on a subsequent call with the same name argument.

      Parameters:
      name - Logical name of the Log instance to be returned (the meaning of this name is only known to the underlying logging implementation that is being wrapped)
      Returns:
      a Log instance.
      Throws:
      LogConfigurationException - if a suitable Log instance cannot be returned

    • release

      public abstract void release()
      Releases any internal references to previously created Log instances returned by this factory. This is useful in environments like servlet containers, which implement application reloading by throwing away a ClassLoader. Dangling references to objects in that class loader would prevent garbage collection.

    • removeAttribute

      public abstract void removeAttribute(String name)
      Removes any configuration attribute associated with the specified name. If there is no such attribute, no action is taken.
      Parameters:
      name - Name of the attribute to remove

    • setAttribute

      public abstract void setAttribute(String name, Object value)
      Sets the configuration attribute with the specified name. Calling this with a null value is equivalent to calling removeAttribute(name).
      Parameters:
      name - Name of the attribute to set
      value - Value of the attribute to set, or null to remove any setting for this attribute