[java] How to change root logging level programmatically for logback

I have the following logback.xml file:

<configuration debug="true"> 

<appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender"> 
<encoder>
  <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n</pattern>
</encoder>
</appender>

<root level="debug">
  <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
</root>
</configuration>

Now, upon the occurrence of a specific event, I want to programmatically change the level of the root logger from debug to error. I can't use variable substitution, it is mandatory that I do this within the code.

How can it be done ? Thanks.

I think you can use MDC to change logging level programmatically. The code below is an example to change logging level on current thread. This approach does not create dependency to logback implementation (SLF4J API contains MDC).

<configuration>
  <turboFilter class="ch.qos.logback.classic.turbo.DynamicThresholdFilter">
    <Key>LOG_LEVEL</Key>
    <DefaultThreshold>DEBUG</DefaultThreshold>
    <MDCValueLevelPair>
      <value>TRACE</value>
      <level>TRACE</level>
    </MDCValueLevelPair>
    <MDCValueLevelPair>
      <value>DEBUG</value>
      <level>DEBUG</level>
    </MDCValueLevelPair>
    <MDCValueLevelPair>
      <value>INFO</value>
      <level>INFO</level>
    </MDCValueLevelPair>
    <MDCValueLevelPair>
      <value>WARN</value>
      <level>WARN</level>
    </MDCValueLevelPair>
    <MDCValueLevelPair>
      <value>ERROR</value>
      <level>ERROR</level>
    </MDCValueLevelPair>
  </turboFilter>
  ......
</configuration>

MDC.put("LOG_LEVEL", "INFO");

I assume you are using logback (from the configuration file).

From logback manual, I see

Logger rootLogger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(org.slf4j.Logger.ROOT_LOGGER_NAME);

Perhaps this can help you change the value?

I seem to be having success doing

org.jboss.logmanager.Logger logger = org.jboss.logmanager.Logger.getLogger("");
logger.setLevel(java.util.logging.Level.ALL);

Then to get detailed logging from netty, the following has done it

org.slf4j.impl.SimpleLogger.setLevel(org.slf4j.impl.SimpleLogger.TRACE);

Here's a controller

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/loggers")
public class LoggerConfigController {

private final static org.slf4j.Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PetController.class);

@GetMapping()
public List<LoggerDto> getAllLoggers() throws CoreException {
    
    LoggerContext loggerContext = (LoggerContext) LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory();
    
    List<Logger> loggers = loggerContext.getLoggerList();
    
    List<LoggerDto> loggerDtos = new ArrayList<>();
    
    for (Logger logger : loggers) {
        
        if (Objects.isNull(logger.getLevel())) {
            continue;
        }
        
        LoggerDto dto = new LoggerDto(logger.getName(), logger.getLevel().levelStr);
        loggerDtos.add(dto);
    }
    
    if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled()) {
        LOGGER.debug("All loggers retrieved. Total of {} loggers found", loggerDtos.size());
    }
    
    return loggerDtos;
}

@PutMapping
public boolean updateLoggerLevel(
        @RequestParam String name, 
        @RequestParam String level
)throws CoreException {
    
    LoggerContext loggerContext = (LoggerContext) LoggerFactory.getILoggerFactory();
    
    Logger logger = loggerContext.getLogger(name);
    
    if (Objects.nonNull(logger) && StringUtils.isNotBlank(level)) {
        
        switch (level) {
            case "INFO":
                logger.setLevel(Level.INFO);
                LOGGER.info("Logger [{}] updated to [{}]", name, level);
                break;
                
            case "DEBUG":
                logger.setLevel(Level.DEBUG);
                LOGGER.info("Logger [{}] updated to [{}]", name, level);
                break;
                
            case "ALL":
                logger.setLevel(Level.ALL);
                LOGGER.info("Logger [{}] updated to [{}]", name, level);
                break;
                
            case "OFF":
            default: 
                logger.setLevel(Level.OFF);
                LOGGER.info("Logger [{}] updated to [{}]", name, level);
        }
    }
    
    return true;
}

}

As pointed out by others, you simply create mockAppender and then create a LoggingEvent instance which essentially listens to the logging event registered/happens inside mockAppender.

Here is how it looks like in test:

import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import ch.qos.logback.classic.Level;
import ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger;
import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.ILoggingEvent;
import ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.LoggingEvent;
import ch.qos.logback.core.Appender;

@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
public class TestLogEvent {

// your Logger
private Logger log = (Logger) LoggerFactory.getLogger(Logger.ROOT_LOGGER_NAME);

// here we mock the appender
@Mock
private Appender<ILoggingEvent> mockAppender;

// Captor is generic-ised with ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.LoggingEvent
@Captor
private ArgumentCaptor<LoggingEvent> captorLoggingEvent;

/**
 * set up the test, runs before each test
 */
@Before
public void setUp() {
    log.addAppender(mockAppender);
}

/**
 * Always have this teardown otherwise we can stuff up our expectations. 
 * Besides, it's good coding practise
 */
@After
public void teardown() {
    log.detachAppender(mockAppender);
}


// Assuming this is your method
public void yourMethod() {
    log.info("hello world");
}

@Test
public void testYourLoggingEvent() {

    //invoke your method
    yourMethod();

    // now verify our logging interaction
    // essentially appending the event to mockAppender
    verify(mockAppender, times(1)).doAppend(captorLoggingEvent.capture());

    // Having a generic captor means we don't need to cast
    final LoggingEvent loggingEvent = captorLoggingEvent.getValue();

    // verify that info log level is called
    assertThat(loggingEvent.getLevel(), is(Level.INFO));

    // Check the message being logged is correct
    assertThat(loggingEvent.getFormattedMessage(), containsString("hello world"));
}
}

using logback 1.1.3 I had to do the following (Scala code):

import ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory    
...
val root: Logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(org.slf4j.Logger.ROOT_LOGGER_NAME).asInstanceOf[Logger]