title: Modifying java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter format property under Tomcat
body: <p>I am using Tomcat 7.0.28, running under OpenJDK 1.7 on Ubuntu, and am trying to modify the formatting string used by java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.  According to the Javadocs for that class, I can specify the property java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format to change the format.  And indeed, when I run my webapp in Eclipse and change this property in my logging.properties file, it works.</p>
  
  <p>However, when I deploy the app to Tomcat, this property does not seem to have any effect.  I am confident that my properties file is being read correctly, as other changes that I make to it do indeed take effect (I'm reading the properties in from a file using </p>
  
  <pre><code>LogManager.getLogManager().readConfiguration(new FileInputStream(file))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>where file is configured via a parameter in my web.xml file.  I've tried putting the file in WEB-INF/classes/logging.properties, with no change in behavior.</p>
  
  <p>The Javadocs for SimpleFormatter specify that if both a properties file and a system property specify the formatting string, the system property takes precedence.  I have verified that the system property is not set </p>
  
  <pre><code>context.log ("Formatting system property is " + System.getProperty("java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format"));
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>in a ServletContextListener.contextInitialized method.</p>
  
  <p>Here's my logging properties file in full</p>
  
  <pre><code>handlers=java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler
  
  #  Default logging level for root logger
  .level=FINE
  
  #  Set the level for the ConsoleHandler
  java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.level=FINE
  java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.formatter=java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter
  java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=[%1$tF %1$tr] %3$s %4$s:  %5$s %n
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've tried everything I can think of, including modifying logging.properties in both the TOMCAT/conf and JRE_HOME/lib directory.  Nothing seems to make any difference.</p>