[Babeldoc-devel] Log4j vs Commons-logging

[Dejan K. <dej...@nb...>]

Hi all,

Welcome to Babeldoc mailing list! I tought it is better to comunicate this
way then using forums on SF. I have already posted this question on SF but
it seems that nobody read develpoer forum ;)

OK, this problem is related to logging.
We should definitly decide if we should use Log4j or commons-logging. In
current Babeldoc version we use both. There is really no reasons for this.
We have switched from log4j to commons, but after some problems, Bruce have
moved back static initializer for log4j configuration in LogService class. I
think if we are using commons-logging we should not use any log4j class in
the code. All configuration is done by commons-logging (LogFactory class).
The only thing it need is log4j.configuration enviroment variable. This
variable is set using config file so, user is free to use other logging
frameworks without changing the code.

I would like to know what problems have been noticed when we didn't have
static initializer in LogService. We should solve the problem and remove all
log4j code if we are going to use commons-logging.

However, the other question is if we really should use commons-logging? The
advantages of it is that we have independance of underlying logging
framework, that is - we could use jdk 1.4 logging or LogKit framework
without changing the code. The main disadvatage is that using
commons-logging we cannot use some advanced log4j specific functionality
(which we are not using anyway). Also, commons-logging is wrapper and there
is probably some overhaed compared to clean log4j.

So, I want to discuss about this thing with you guys!
Log4j or commons-logging, that is the question!

Best regards,
Dejan