Question

I am using Log4net for a while now and it’s an amazing logging framework, especially when hooked into Castle.Windsor. However…

I usually use the rolling file appender, but this has resulted in too many log files than I actually want, so instead, for my latest project, have used the basic LogFileAppender instead, but the problem is the log file keeps growing (seemingly forever).

How can I tell the appender to not go over a fixed size (and start removing old logs and appending the new ones to the file?

My current configuration looks like:

<appender name='LogFileAppender' type='log4net.Appender.FileAppender'>   <file value='E:\Logs\iWater\Schedule-Dispatch-API.log'/>   <param name='AppendToFile' value='true'/>   <maximumFileSize value='2048KB'/>   <layout type='log4net.Layout.PatternLayout'>     <conversionPattern value='%-16date{dd MMM HH:mm:ss} %-7level %-25.35logger{1} %message%newline'/>   </layout> </appender> 

Its seems like the maximumFileSize attribute is not being respected. Any solutions?

Alternatively, how can I configure the rolling file appender to only create 1 file (ever)?

Answer 1

The FileAppender class does not have the MaxFileSize/MaximumFileSize properties. You only get those if you use a RollingFileAppender. Here’s an example that will limit your file to a fixed maximum size, with no backups (set maxSizeRollBackups to 0). Note that when the file reaches its max size, it truncates (basically deletes all existing logging and starts over):

<appender name='RollingFileAppender' type='log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender'>     <file value='log.txt' />     <appendToFile value='true' />     <rollingStyle value='Size' />     <maxSizeRollBackups value='0' />     <maximumFileSize value='10MB' />     <staticLogFileName value='true' />     <layout type='log4net.Layout.PatternLayout'>         <conversionPattern value='%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%property{NDC}] - %message%newline' />     </layout> </appender>