Placement of Log4j.jar

Question

We are planning to use Log4j, and finds it necessary to use logging both in web and ejb layer.
The 'obvious' solution is to put log4j.jar in j2ee/home/lib, whitch should make it available to all.
Unfortunately,
Oracle is using log4j in their Enterpise Manager web site, which we use for deployment to Oracle iAS 902.
EM is relying on an older version of Log4j, so the placement in j2ee/home/lib might make EM stop functioning, since EM includes this location (default OC4J home) in its classpath.
Supplied log4j in WEB-INF/lib of the web-application, and put an entry in orion-application like:
<library path="../../applications/dealerapp/dealerweb/WEB-INF/lib/log4j-1.2.6.jar" />
(log4j initialized by a servlet at startup)
This seems to work, but is there other solutions?
regards, Trond R.

Answer 1

Hi Curt - your point is a good one. The Servlet 2.3 spec has tightened up the classloading order a little (and 2.4 tightens it further), so at least we're on the path to a well defined model for class loading in Web applications.
Just for completeness, the <web-app-class-loader> tag is documented in the Servlet Developer's Guide.
http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/A97688_08/generic.903/a97680/deploy.htm#1010258
<web-app-class-loader ... >
Use this element for class loading instructions.
Attributes:
search-local-classes-first: Set this to "true" to search and load WAR file classes before system classes. The default is "false".
include-war-manifest-class-path: Set this to "false" to not include the class path specified in the WAR file manifest Class-Path attribute when searching and loading classes from the WAR file (regardless of the search-local-classes-first setting). The default is "true".
-steve-