How can I create 2 separate log files with one log4j config file?

Question

I can't figure out how to configure my log4j so that my debugLog and my reportsLog are separate from each other (not additive). Why is it, that in the configuration below, the reportsLog is always empty?

log4j.rootLogger=TRACE, stdout, debugLog

log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%24F:%t:%L] - %m%n

log4j.appender.debugLog=org.apache.log4j.FileAppender
log4j.appender.debugLog.File=logs/debug.log
log4j.appender.debugLog.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.debugLog.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%24F:%t:%L] - %m%n

log4j.reportsLog=DEBUG,reportsLog
log4j.appender.reportsLog=org.apache.log4j.FileAppender
log4j.appender.reportsLog.File=logs/reports.log
log4j.appender.reportsLog.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.reportsLog.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%24F:%t:%L] - %m%n

And here is my Java code:

package test;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import org.apache.log4j.PropertyConfigurator;

public class HelloLogger {

    static final Logger debugLog = Logger.getLogger("debugLog");
    static final Logger resultLog = Logger.getLogger("reportsLog");

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PropertyConfigurator.configure("log4j.properties");
        debugLog.debug("Hello debugLog message");   
        resultLog.debug("Hello reportsLog message");
    }   
}

Answer 1

Try the following configuration:

log4j.rootLogger=TRACE, stdout

log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%24F:%t:%L] - %m%n

log4j.appender.debugLog=org.apache.log4j.FileAppender
log4j.appender.debugLog.File=logs/debug.log
log4j.appender.debugLog.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.debugLog.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%24F:%t:%L] - %m%n

log4j.appender.reportsLog=org.apache.log4j.FileAppender
log4j.appender.reportsLog.File=logs/reports.log
log4j.appender.reportsLog.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.reportsLog.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%24F:%t:%L] - %m%n

log4j.category.debugLogger=TRACE, debugLog
log4j.additivity.debugLogger=false

log4j.category.reportsLogger=DEBUG, reportsLog
log4j.additivity.reportsLogger=false

Then configure the loggers in the Java code accordingly:

static final Logger debugLog = Logger.getLogger("debugLogger");
static final Logger resultLog = Logger.getLogger("reportsLogger");

Do you want output to go to stdout? If not, change the first line of log4j.properties to:

log4j.rootLogger=OFF

and get rid of the stdout lines.