logback-classic 1.4.9 contains breaking change that breaks Play

[felixkrull-neuland]

logback-classic 1.4.9 removed a public method from their API that's used by Play. I haven't looked more closely, but I suspect this version would break any Play app that uses Logback? This is the stacktrace I get from our integration tests:

[error] java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: 'void ch.qos.logback.classic.util.ContextInitializer.configureByResource(java.net.URL)'
[error] 	at play.api.libs.logback.LogbackLoggerConfigurator.configure(LogbackLoggerConfigurator.scala:125)
[error] 	at play.api.libs.logback.LogbackLoggerConfigurator.configure(LogbackLoggerConfigurator.scala:73)
[error] 	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.$anonfun$configureLoggerFactory$1(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:137)
[error] 	at scala.Option.map(Option.scala:242)
[error] 	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.configureLoggerFactory(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:136)
[error] 	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.applicationModule(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:112)
[error] 	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceBuilder.injector(GuiceInjectorBuilder.scala:201)
[error] 	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.build(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:155)
[...stacktrace continues]

To be clear: this sucks, and IMO they shouldn't do this. But apparently their guidance on this is "just copy the method into your own code". This is the commit that removed the method: qos-ch/logback@4b06e06 Presumably this is the newest version of this code.

Play Version

2.8.19, but likely older as well

API

Scala, but probably either

Operating System

Linux, but probably all OS

JDK

JDK 11 ("Amazon.com Inc. Java 11.0.18"), but probably others as well

Library Dependencies

ch.qos.logback:logback-classic 1.4.9

Expected Behavior

Play doesn't crash on startup and logback logging works.

Actual Behavior

Play crashes on startup. This is the stacktrace when actually running the application:

VM settings:
    Max. Heap Size (Estimated): 10.67G
    Using VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM

Oops, cannot start the server.
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: 'void ch.qos.logback.classic.util.ContextInitializer.configureByResource(java.net.URL)'
	at play.api.libs.logback.LogbackLoggerConfigurator.configure(LogbackLoggerConfigurator.scala:125)
	at play.api.libs.logback.LogbackLoggerConfigurator.configure(LogbackLoggerConfigurator.scala:73)
	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.$anonfun$configureLoggerFactory$1(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:137)
	at scala.Option.map(Option.scala:242)
	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.configureLoggerFactory(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:136)
	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.applicationModule(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:112)
	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceBuilder.injector(GuiceInjectorBuilder.scala:201)
	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationBuilder.build(GuiceApplicationBuilder.scala:155)
	at play.api.inject.guice.GuiceApplicationLoader.load(GuiceApplicationLoader.scala:21)
	at play.core.server.ProdServerStart$.start(ProdServerStart.scala:53)
	at play.core.server.ProdServerStart$.main(ProdServerStart.scala:29)
	at play.core.server.ProdServerStart.main(ProdServerStart.scala)

[beikern]

Can confirm. Play just breaks with the same stack trace that you provided.

[gaeljw]

Having the issue as well.

To be fair, the method was deprecated in logback for some time already.

[iaco86]

This affects also people using logback 1.3.9

[gervaisb]

In case someone wants to know without going to Logback's history (qos-ch/logback@4b06e06), Play is working well with logback 1.4.8

[mkurz]

Bites us in playframework/play-samples#383

[mkurz]

To be fair, the method was deprecated in logback for some time already.

This method was deprecated with logback PATCH release 1.4.6 (commit) and removed in logback PATCH release 1.4.9 (commit), so I can not support the statement "the method was deprecated in logback for some time already". This is very very bad bad practise from logback IMHO, since it's common practise to not break code and/or remove methods and/or classes in patch releases (except if it is absoluty necessary and unavoidable in case of security bug fixes, but then it should be mentioned in release notes including migration steps).

[mkurz]

BTW: Others running in the problem as well, it's definitely not just Play: https://mailman.qos.ch/pipermail/logback-user/2023-August/005288.html

[gaeljw]

Indeed. I only saw it was deprecated and assumed it was for at least 1 minor version. I meant no offense to Play maintainers ;)

[mkurz]

😉 Don't worry, just wanted to clarify. Taking a look now at this.

[mkurz]

Play 2.8.21 is available which now allows you to upgrade Logback: https://github.com/playframework/playframework/releases/tag/2.8.21