Specifying a custom log4j.properties file for all of JUnit tests run from Eclipse

Solution 1:

You do not need to give the JVM a different property name. The logging code searches for the log4j.properties file using the classpath. So all you need to do is ensure that your test log4j.properties file is in a location that it will find before the release file.

I use Maven, which lays out files in directories to make that easy. My release log4j.properties goes in the directory src/main/resources. My test version goes in src/test/resources. The Eclipse build path (classpath) is set up to search src/test/resources before src/main/resources, so your unit tests use the test file. The JAR (or WAR) build instructions use the files from src/main/resources.

Solution 2:

Eclipse gives you the ability to define default VM arguments that are applied to any launch which uses that VM. You could use that in your situation by defining a JRE configuration with the VM argument you want for log4j and then setting up all JUnit launches to use that JRE definition.

In Preferences, Java > Installed JREs and use the Add... button to define a JRE. In the JRE Definition dialog there is a field for Default VM arguments. Give this JRE definition a useful name such as "JDK 7 for JUnit" so that you can easily identify it.

Then in your JUnit launch(es), on the JRE tab, select the JRE definition you created.