Should new projects use logback instead of log4j?

java logging log4j logback
TimmiB picture TimmiB · Oct 7, 2008 · Viewed 18.4k times · Source

Should new projects use logback instead of log4j as a logging framework ?

Or with other words :'Is logback better than log4j (leaving the SLF4J-'feature' of logback beside)?'

Answer

Huxi picture Huxi · Jun 1, 2009

You should use SLF4J+Logback for logging.

It provides neat features like parametrized messages and (in contrast to commons-logging) a Mapped Diagnostic Context (MDC, javadoc, documentation).

Using SLF4J makes the logging backend exchangeable in a quite elegant way.

Additionally, SLF4J supports bridging of other logging frameworks to the actual SLF4J implementation you'll be using so logging events from third party software will show up in your unified logs - with the exception of java.util.logging that can't be bridged the same way that other logging frameworks are.

Bridging jul is explained in the javadocs of SLF4JBridgeHandler.

I've had a very good experience using the SLF4J+Logback combination in several projects and LOG4J development has pretty much stalled.

SLF4J has the following remaining downsides:

  • It does not support varargs to stay compatible with Java < 1.5
  • It does not support using both parametrized message and an exception at the same time.
  • It does not contain support for a Nested Diagnostic Context (NDC, javadoc) which LOG4J has.

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