Log4j basic configuration

The root logger resides at the top of the logger hierarchy. It is exceptional in three ways:

• it always exists,
• its level cannot be set to null
• it cannot be retrieved by name.

The rootLogger is the father of all appenders. Each enabled logging request for a given logger will be forwarded to all the appenders in that logger as well as the appenders higher in the hierarchy (including rootLogger)

For example, if the console appender is added to the root logger, then all enabled logging requests will at least print on the console. If in addition a file appender is added to a logger, say L, then enabled logging requests for L and L's children will print on a file and on the console. It is possible to override this default behavior so that appender accumulation is no longer additive by setting the additivity flag to false.

From the log4j manual

To sum up:

If you want not to propagate a logging event to the parents loggers (say rootLogger) then add the additivity flag to false in those loggers. In your case:

<logger name="org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.interceptor"
        additivity="false">
        <level value="DEBUG" />
        <appender-ref ref="payloadAppender" />
</logger>

In standard log4j config style (which I prefer to XML):

log4j.logger.org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.interceptor = INFO, payloadAppender
log4j.additivity.org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.interceptor = false

Hope this helps.

I was never needed to do this, but since I have once read Log4J - The Complete Manual, I hope these pointers will help.

1. Write your own custom filter by extending org.apache.log4j.spi.Filter
2. Override decide method
3. Use loggingEvent.getLevel(), to identify the level of log that was triggered.

4. Write following logic in decide

   if(event.getLevel() == Level.INFO || event.getLevel() == Level.FATAL)
     return ACCEPT;
   return DENY;
   

This filter will accept all the logs that are either INFO or FATAL. You may get more creative.

Please note that I have not tested this code. This is just a guideline, hope this helps

Edit: on a bit search, I found something that might be easier. I guess, You can use LevelMatchFilter, this way

    <filter class="org.apache.log4j.varia.LevelMatchFilter">
    <param name="LevelToMatch" value="info" />
    <param name="AcceptOnMatch" value="true" />
    </filter>
    <filter class="org.apache.log4j.varia.LevelMatchFilter">
    <param name="LevelToMatch" value="fatal" />
    <param name="AcceptOnMatch" value="true" />
    </filter>
    <filter class="org.apache.log4j.varia.DenyAllFilter"/>

refer: http://wiki.apache.org/logging-log4j/Log4jXmlFormat for XML configurarion. There is a section on Filter Configuration

I don't know what stops OP in accepting this answer. I've just tested, it works:

Here is the XML.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM "log4j.dtd">

<log4j:configuration xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/">
  <appender name="util" class="org.apache.log4j.FileAppender">
    <param name="File" value="D:/util.log" />
    <param name="Append" value="true" />
    <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
        <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%t %-5p %c{2} - %m%n"/>
    </layout>           

    <filter class="org.apache.log4j.varia.LevelMatchFilter">
        <param name="LevelToMatch" value="info" />
        <param name="AcceptOnMatch" value="true" />
    </filter>
    <filter class="org.apache.log4j.varia.LevelMatchFilter">
        <param name="LevelToMatch" value="fatal" />
        <param name="AcceptOnMatch" value="true" />
    </filter>
    <filter class="org.apache.log4j.varia.DenyAllFilter"/>

  </appender> 

  <root> 
    <priority value ="debug" /> 
    <appender-ref ref="util" /> 
  </root>


</log4j:configuration>

Here is the Java code

    DOMConfigurator.configure("log4j.xml");
    Logger log = Logger.getLogger(Test.class);
    log.debug("DEBUG");
    log.info("INFO");
    log.warn("WARN");
    log.error("ERROR");
    log.fatal("FATAL");

Here is the output in (as configured) D:/util.log

main INFO  test.Test - INFO
main FATAL test.Test - FATAL