[log4j-announce]log4j version 1.1b1 available

[Ceki <cg...@qo...>]

Greetings,


Log4j version 1.1 beta 1 is now available on=20
http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/download.html. This version has the
ominous beta flag because it introduces new API methods, namely
getOption(key), which is still subject of debate.

On the other hand, this version fixes a few bugs and irons out
numerous wrinkles.

In this release, the FileAppender has been split two 3 parts,
Appenders and Layouts now get to see the raw message object in
LoggingEvent, Appender and Layouts now return their option setting
through the newly introduced and controversial getOption(key)
method. Otherwise, there are no major changes in this release.

I will be away for two weeks with no access to a computer. I preferred
to make a beta release now, instead of delaying the release by at
least another two weeks. Enjoy, Ceki


The HISTORY file reads:

   [*] Changes that are 100% compatible with existing client code. =20
  [**] Changes that requiring little or no modification to existing=20
       client code.=20
 [***] Changes requiring important modifications to existing client code.


 February 23, 2001

 - Release of version 1.1b1

 - Logging can now be disabled per Hierarchy. It can also be disabled
   using configuration files using the "disable" directive.  The
   disableOverride directive takes precedence over the disable
   directive.  As a result of this change the disable family of
   methods has moved from the BasicConfigurator class to the Hierarchy
   class. [**]

 - Changed the name of the configuration element to log4j:configuration in=
 the
   log4j.dtd. All configuration files written in XML need to be
   modified. [**]

   The following perl command can help:

   perl -p -i.bak -e "s/configuration/log4j:configuration/;" file1.xml ..=
 fileN.xml

 - The FileAppender has been split into three parts: WriterAppender,
   ConsoleAppender and FileAppender. ConsoleAppender takes over the
   console logging functionality of FileAppender. As a result Support
   for stream and console printing has been deprecated in FileAppender. [**]

 - The FileAppender now correctly outputs the header and footer of its
   layout. This problem was reported by too many users to list here. [*]

 - Appenders and Layouts now get to see the raw message object in
   LoggingEvent not just its rendered form. The access modifiers of
   some LoggingEvent fields were changed so that they can be accessed
   in less error-prone ways. Thanks to Jim Cakalic and Anders Kristens
   for their valuable advice. [*]

 - Added getLayout(), getErrorHandler(), and getFilter() to the
   Appender interface. [*]

 - Added getOption(key) method to the OptionHandler interface and modified
   implementations of it as appropriate. [*]
=20
 - Added the much awaited DailyRollingFileAppender. [*]

 - The structure of the distribution changed somewhat. The log4j.jar
   files can be found under dist/. The javadoc directory has been
   moved to docs/api/. We are now totally dependent on ANT to perform
   all the steps involved in creating a release, in including
   compilation, jar file creation, generation of the javadocs, and for
   the creation of the distribution tar and zip files. [*]

 - Removed org/apache/log4j/varia/ResilientFileAppender.java which was
   bogus to begin with. [*]

 - XMLLayout will now mark some output as <![CDATA .. [[> so that it
   does not get interpreted by the XML parser. This was suggested by
   Mathias Bogaert like a long list of other fixes. [*]

 - Corrected a bug in CyclicBuffer.resize method that would not update the
   next insertion point. Thanks to Ole Bulbuk for accurately reporting
   the bug. [*]
       =20
 - The LoggingEvent class now supports serialization of priorities
   derived from the org.apache.log4j.Priority class. [*]
=20
 - Improved the search method for finding the "log4j.properties" file in
   the static initializer of Category class. Thanks to Calvin Chan for
   supplying a better method. [*]

 - Made the instanceFCQN an instance variable instead of a class
   static in Category.java. In related move, the Category constructor
   now takes an additional argument setting the instanceFCQN. This
   makes life less miserable for Category subclasses. [*]

 - Corrected a bug in the OptionConverter.instantiateByClassName
   method that would not return the defaultValue in case of error. Thanks
   to Matthieu Verbert for identifying this bug.

 - Corrected the missing stack trace in e-mails generated by the
   SMTPAppender when using certain Layouts. [*]
               =20
 - Updated the "Adding Conversion Characters to PatternLayout"
   document to reflect the latest changes to the code. Also added the
   org/apache/log4j/examples/appserver directory containing the
   associated example code. [*]

 - Added the BufferSize option to the AsyncAppender. [*]

 - Eliminated the SecurityExceptions thrown in Applets.  Thanks Timur
   Zambalayev for reporting this bug. [*]

 - Fixed the erroneously thrown IOInterruptedException when the=
 AsyncAppender=20
   was closed. Thanks to Tom Palmer for accurately reporting this bug. [*]


----
Ceki G=FClc=FC          Web:   http://qos.ch     =20
av. de Rumine 5     email: cg...@qo... (preferred)
CH-1005 Lausanne           cek...@ya...
Switzerland         Tel: ++41 21 351 23 15