title: Why are my INFO logs still getting logged when level off?
body: <p>I just realized today we were using log4j2 and my log4j properties file wasn't being utilized. So I dropped in the most basic of log4j2.xml files to verify it's being used. I'd expect to see none of my logs with it off, but instead see all. Can anyone point out to me why the level set is not being honored?</p>
  
  <p>Here is my file:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
  &lt;Configuration status="trace" packages=""&gt;
    &lt;Appenders&gt;
      &lt;Console name="Console" target="SYSTEM_OUT"&gt;
        &lt;PatternLayout pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n"/&gt;
      &lt;/Console&gt;
    &lt;/Appenders&gt;
    &lt;Loggers&gt;
      &lt;Root level="off"&gt;
        &lt;AppenderRef ref="Console"/&gt;
      &lt;/Root&gt;
    &lt;/Loggers&gt;
  &lt;/Configuration&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Log4j startup trace log:</p>
  
  <pre><code>2016-04-14 10:40:26,916 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Initializing configuration XmlConfiguration[location=C:\Workspaces\Q1Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\TestLicense\WEB-INF\classes\log4j2.xml]
  2016-04-14 10:40:26,924 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Installed script engines
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,325 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Oracle Nashorn Version: 1.8.0_72, Language: ECMAScript, Threading: Not Thread Safe, Compile: true, Names: {nashorn, Nashorn, js, JS, JavaScript, javascript, ECMAScript, ecmascript}
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,326 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG PluginManager 'Core' found 97 plugins
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,326 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG PluginManager 'Level' found 0 plugins
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,329 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG No scheduled items
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,330 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG PluginManager 'Lookup' found 13 plugins
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,332 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Building Plugin[name=layout, class=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout.PatternLayout].
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,343 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE TypeConverterRegistry initializing.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,344 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG PluginManager 'TypeConverter' found 23 plugins
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,357 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG PatternLayout$Builder(pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n", PatternSelector=null, Configuration(C:\Workspaces\Q1Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\TestLicense\WEB-INF\classes\log4j2.xml), Replace=null, charset="null", alwaysWriteExceptions="null", noConsoleNoAnsi="null", header="null", footer="null")
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,357 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG PluginManager 'Converter' found 38 plugins
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,358 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Building Plugin[name=appender, class=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.ConsoleAppender].
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,360 localhost-startStop-1 INFO Log4j appears to be running in a Servlet environment, but there's no log4j-web module available. If you want better web container support, please add the log4j-web JAR to your web archive or server lib directory.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,361 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG PluginManager 'Converter' found 38 plugins
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,362 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Jansi is not installed, cannot find org.fusesource.jansi.WindowsAnsiOutputStream
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,363 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Starting OutputStreamManager SYSTEM_OUT.false-2
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG ConsoleAppender$Builder(PatternLayout(%d{HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n), Filter=null, target="SYSTEM_OUT", name="Console", follow="null", ignoreExceptions="null")
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Jansi is not installed, cannot find org.fusesource.jansi.WindowsAnsiOutputStream
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Starting OutputStreamManager SYSTEM_OUT.false
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Building Plugin[name=appenders, class=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.AppendersPlugin].
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG createAppenders(={Console})
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Building Plugin[name=AppenderRef, class=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.AppenderRef].
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG createAppenderRef(ref="Console", level="null", Filter=null)
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Building Plugin[name=root, class=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.LoggerConfig$RootLogger].
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,368 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG createLogger(additivity="null", level="OFF", includeLocation="null", ={Console}, ={}, Configuration(C:\Workspaces\Q1Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\TestLicense\WEB-INF\classes\log4j2.xml), Filter=null)
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,385 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Building Plugin[name=loggers, class=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.LoggersPlugin].
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,386 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG createLoggers(={root})
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,387 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Configuration XmlConfiguration[location=C:\Workspaces\Q1Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\TestLicense\WEB-INF\classes\log4j2.xml] initialized
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,387 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Starting configuration XmlConfiguration[location=C:\Workspaces\Q1Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\TestLicense\WEB-INF\classes\log4j2.xml]
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,387 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Started configuration XmlConfiguration[location=C:\Workspaces\Q1Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\TestLicense\WEB-INF\classes\log4j2.xml] OK.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,388 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Stopping org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.DefaultConfiguration@19789652...
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,388 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE DefaultConfiguration notified 1 ReliabilityStrategies that config will be stopped.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,388 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE DefaultConfiguration stopping root LoggerConfig.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,388 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE DefaultConfiguration notifying ReliabilityStrategies that appenders will be stopped.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,389 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE DefaultConfiguration stopping remaining Appenders.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,389 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Shutting down OutputStreamManager SYSTEM_OUT.false-1
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,389 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE DefaultConfiguration stopped 1 remaining Appenders.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,389 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE DefaultConfiguration cleaning Appenders from 1 LoggerConfigs.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,390 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Stopped org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.DefaultConfiguration@19789652 OK
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,392 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Reregistering MBeans after reconfigure. Selector=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.selector.ClassLoaderContextSelector@59c13ee7
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,393 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Reregistering context (1/1): '535ee47f' org.apache.logging.log4j.core.LoggerContext@48b37677
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,394 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,394 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=StatusLogger'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,394 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=ContextSelector'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,395 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=Loggers,name=*'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,395 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=Appenders,name=*'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,395 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=AsyncAppenders,name=*'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,396 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=AsyncLoggerRingBuffer'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,396 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Unregistering but no MBeans found matching 'org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=Loggers,name=*,subtype=RingBuffer'
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,398 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Registering MBean org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,402 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Registering MBean org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=StatusLogger
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,405 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Registering MBean org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=ContextSelector
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,407 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Registering MBean org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=Loggers,name=
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,410 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Registering MBean org.apache.logging.log4j2:type=535ee47f,component=Appenders,name=Console
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,416 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Using default SystemClock for timestamps.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,418 localhost-startStop-1 TRACE Using DummyNanoClock for nanosecond timestamps.
  2016-04-14 10:40:27,418 localhost-startStop-1 DEBUG Reconfiguration complete for context[name=535ee47f] at URI C:\Workspaces\Q1Workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\TestLicense\WEB-INF\classes\log4j2.xml (org.apache.logging.log4j.core.LoggerContext@48b37677) with optional ClassLoader: null
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>See here that it continues to log info messages from my application :</p>
  
  <pre><code>Apr 14, 2016 12:02:46 PM com.myorg.licensing.persistence.dao.ext.S1ProductDaoExt update
  INFO: updating S1Product instance
  Apr 14, 2016 12:02:46 PM com.myorg.licensing.persistence.dao.ext.S1ProductDaoExt update
  INFO: update successful
  Apr 14, 2016 12:02:52 PM com.myorg.licensing.persistence.dao.ext.S1ProductDaoExt update
  INFO: updating S1Product instance
  Apr 14, 2016 12:02:52 PM com.myorg.licensing.persistence.dao.ext.S1ProductDaoExt update
  INFO: update successful
  Apr 14, 2016 12:02:56 PM com.myorg.licensing.persistence.dao.ext.S1ProductDaoExt update
  INFO: updating S1Product instance
  Apr 14, 2016 12:02:56 PM com.myorg.licensing.persistence.dao.ext.S1ProductDaoExt update
  INFO: update successful
  </code></pre>