Framework for widely-used Open Source Java-based logging library now faster and more extensible, with new plugin architecture.

Forest Hill, MD –22 July 2014– The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 170 Open Source projects and initiatives, announced today the General Availability of Apache™ Log4j™ v2, the widely-used Open Source Java-based framework for logging application behavior and activity.

"We are happy to release Log4j 2.0 GA," said Christian Grobmeier, Vice President of Apache Logging Services. "It took us a few years until we got there --its predecessor is one of the most popular logging libraries."

Apache Log4j 2 is the successor of Log4j 1, and reflects thirteen prior releases over the last four years. The framework was rewritten from scratch and has been inspired by existing logging solutions, including Log4j 1 and JUL. Log4j 2 provides support for SLF4J, Commons Logging, Apache Flume and Log4j 1.

Log4j 2 offers performance improvements up to 12x faster in the same environment: Log4j 2 can write more than 18,000,000 messages per second, as opposed to other frameworks that write < 2,000,000 messages per second.

Additional Log4j 2 highlights include: 
  • improved reliability, filters, and configuration syntax; 
  • modularity --plug-in system support;
  • property support;
  • custom log levels;
  • support for XML and JSON configuration; and
  • automatic reloading of configuration
"A payments gateway company adopted Log4j 2 on one of their platforms, and testing has shown at least 100% throughput increase of the application due to bottlenecks they were experiencing with their former logging solution," said Ralph Goers of the Apache Log4j Project Management Committee.

Apache Log4j is widely used across numerous industries and applications. The project currently has code contributions from individuals in financial services, software development, retailing, and consulting, among other sectors.

"It's interesting to note that many of the developments to Log4j 2 came from new code committers to the project," added Grobmeier. "We plan on continuing improving the code and listening to community feedback." 

Availability and Oversight
As with all Apache products, Apache Log4j 2 software is released under the Apache License v2.0, and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Project’s day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. For documentation and ways to become involved with Apache Log4j 2, visit http://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/

About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)
Established in 1999, the all-volunteer Foundation oversees more than one hundred and seventy leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server --the world's most popular Web server software. Through the ASF's meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way," more than 400 individual Members and 3,500 Committers successfully collaborate to develop freely available enterprise-grade software, benefiting millions of users worldwide: thousands of software solutions are distributed under the Apache License; and the community actively participates in ASF mailing lists, mentoring initiatives, and ApacheCon, the Foundation's official user conference, trainings, and expo. The ASF is a US 501(c)(3) charitable organization, funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors including Budget Direct, Citrix, Cloudera, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Hortonworks, HP, Huawei, IBM, InMotion Hosting, Matt Mullenweg, Microsoft, Pivotal, Produban, WANdisco, and Yahoo. For more information, visit http://www.apache.org/ or follow @TheASF on Twitter.

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