First some background. I have a batch-type java process run from a DOS batch

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Asked: May 15, 20262026-05-15T08:00:22+00:00 2026-05-15T08:00:22+00:00

First some background. I have a batch-type java process run from a DOS batch

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First some background. I have a batch-type java process run from a DOS batch script. All the java logging goes to stdout, and the batch script redirects the stdout to a file. (This is good for me because I can ECHO from the script and it gets into the log file, so I can see all the java JVM command line args, which is great for debugging.) I may not

I use slf4j API, and for the backend I used to use log4j, but recently switched to logback-classic.

Although all my application code uses slf4j, I have a third party library that does it’s own logging (not using a standard API) which also gets written to stdout.

The problem is that sometimes log lines get mixed up and don’t cleanly appear on separate lines. Here is an example of some messed up output:

2010-05-28 18:00:44.783 [thread-1       ] INFO  CreditCorrelationElementBuilderImpl - Bump parameters exist for scenario, now attempting bumping. [indexDisplayName=STANDARD_S1_v300]
2010-05-28 18:01:43.517 [thread-1       ] INFO  CreditCorrelationElementBuilderImpl - Found adjusted point in data, now applying bump. [point=0.144040000000000]
2010-05-28 18:01:58.642 [thread-1       ] DEBUG com.company.request.Request         - Generated request for [dealName=XXX_20050225_01[5],dealType=GENERIC_XXX,correlationType=2,copulaType=1] in 73.8 s, Simon Stopwatch: [sys1.batchpricer.reqgen.gen INHERIT] total 1049 s, counter 24, max 74.1 s, min 212 ms
2010-05-28 18:05/28/10 18:02:20.236 INFO: [ServiceEvent] SubmittedTask:BC-STRESS_04_FZBC-2010-05-21-545024448189310126-23
01:58.658 [req-writer-2b   ] INFO  .c.g.r.o.OptionalFileDocumentOutput - Writing request XML to \\filserver\dir\file1.xml - write time: 21.4 ms - Simon Stopwatch: [sys1.batchpricer.reqgen.writeinputfile INHERIT] total 905 ms, counter 24, max 109 ms, min 10.8 ms
2010-05-28 18:02:33.626 [ResponseCallbacks-1: DriverJobSpace$TakeJobRunner$1] ERROR c.c.s.s.D.CalculatorCallback        - Id:23 no deal found !!
2010-0505/28/10 18:02:50.267 INFO: [ServiceEvent] CompletedTask:BC-STRESS_04_FZBC-2010-05-21-545024448189310126-23:Total:24

Now comparing back to older log files, it seems the problem didn’t occur when using log4j as the logging backend. So logback must be doing something different.

The problem seems to be that although PrintStream.write(byte buf[], int off, int len) is synchronized, however I can see in ch.qos.logback.core.joran.spi.ConsoleTarget that System.out.write(int b) is the only write method called.

So inbetween logback outputting each byte, the thirdparty library is managing to write a whole string to the stdout. (Not only is this cause me a problem, but it must also be a little inefficient?)

Is there any other fix to this interleaving problem than patching the code to ConsoleTarget so it implments the other write methods? Any nice work arounds. Or should I just file a bug report?

Here is my logback.xml:

<configuration>
    <appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
        <encoder>
            <pattern>%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%-16thread] %-5level %-35.35logger{30} - %msg%n</pattern>
        </encoder>
    </appender>
    <root level="DEBUG">
        <appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
    </root>
</configuration>

I’m using logback 0.9.20 with java 1.6.0_07.