Possible to use XML for ES log4j2 configuation?

Elastic Stack Elasticsearch
1

Although not a huge fan of XML I prefer it over the Java properties file format. Besides my preference, it's the most common format to configure log4j2.

I tried to simply replace the log4j2.properties with an log4j2.xml. However, this results in ES not starting.

Is there a way to switch to XML to configure the ES app logging?
(Without touching the ES source.)

2

No it's not possible without adding some librairies in the distribution and probably changing some code (which I'm unsure).

3

Hi David, thanks for your quick reply!

If I understood right, you're part of the ES dev team. You might be considering switching / allowing XML: Using XML has one big advantage over properties. You can define filters. My usecase: Due to my business logic I run often (up to 10 GB/day) into DocumentMissingExceptions (complete stacktrace in DEBUG level). I'd like to filter those out.

BTW: Thank you for this great product :slight_smile:

4

I'm not sure but if my memory recalls correctly I think I spoke with @jasontedor a long time ago about this and the problem is that supporting XML configuration needs to bring some new dependencies to read the XML and there was at least 2 concerns about this:

  • Adding new jars to the distribution for a very few needs
  • Adding new jars can lead to security issues as well. I have seen lot of attacks in the past through XML parsers
  • Adding new jars might conflict with the other jars needed by elasticsearch

But @jasontedor can probably confirm that and may has an idea on how to solve your use case without the need of bringing XML to Elasticsearch.

5

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