Plugin Development FAQ

How to Use Logging

The TeamCity code uses the Log4j logging library with a centralized configuration on the server and agent. Logging is usually done via a utility wrapper com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger rather than the default Log4j classes. You can use the class to get instances of the Loggers, e.g. use jetbrains.buildServer.log.Loggers.SERVER to add a message to the teamcity-server.log file.

For plugin-specific logging it is recommended to log into a log category matching the full name of your class. This is usually achieved by defining the logger field in a class as private static Logger LOG = Logger.getInstance(YourClass.class.getName()); If your plugin source code is located under the jetbrains.buildServer package, the logging will automatically go into teamcity-server.log. If you use another package, you might need to add a corresponding category handling into the conf/teamcity-server-log4j.xml file (mentioned at TeamCity Server Logs) or the corresponding agent file.

For debugging you might consider creating a customized Log4j configuration file and put it as a logging preset into <TeamCity Data Directory>\config\ TeamCity Server Logsdirectory. This way one will be able to activate the preset via the Administration | Diagnostics page, Troubleshooting tab.

Example:

Provided you have my.plugin.package.MyCurrentClassName class and want to log into teamcity-myPlugin.log file:

package my.plugin.package;
class MyCurrentClassName {
	private static final com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger LOG = com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger.getInstance(MyCurrentClassName.class.getName());

	void test(){
		LOG.info("Initialized!");
	}
}

Edit <TeamCity server home>\conf\teamcity-server-log4j.xml file to add in the middle of it:

  <appender name="MY_PLUGIN.LOG" class="jetbrains.buildServer.util.TCRollingFileAppender">
    <param name="file" value="${teamcity_logs}teamcity-myPlugin.log"/>
    <param name="maxBackupIndex" value="3"/>

    <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
      <param name="ConversionPattern" value="[%d] %6p [%15.15t] - %30.30c - %m %n"/>
	</layout>
  </appender>

  <category name="my.plugin.package" additivity="false">
    <priority value="INFO"/>
    <appender-ref ref="MY_PLUGIN.LOG"/>
  </category>

Last modified: 20 April 2023