spring framework stuck on debug log level

Question

I'm trying to configure spring framework logging level via log4j.xml. My file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!-- <!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM "log4j.dtd"> -->
<!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration PUBLIC "-//APACHE//DTD LOG4J 1.2//EN" "http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/apidocs/org/apache/log4j/xml/doc-files/log4j.dtd">
<configuration xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/">
<!-- Create a console appender -->
    <appender name="CONSOLE" class="org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender">
        <param name="threshold" value="debug" />
        <param name="Target" value="System.out" />
        <param name="ImmediateFlush" value="true" />
        <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
            <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d{ABSOLUTE} %5p %-45.45c: %m%n" />
        </layout>
    </appender>

    <!-- Change the logging of some known libraries, no need for most of the 
        chatter -->
    <category name="org.apache">
        <priority value="ERROR" />
    </category>
    <category name="org.springframework">
        <priority value="ERROR" />
    </category>
    <category name="org.springframework.data">
        <priority value="INFO" />
    </category>
    <category name="com.mchange">
        <priority value="INFO" />
    </category>

    <!-- <category name="com.ssv.mq.service"> <priority value="INFO"/> </category> -->

    <category name="com.ro">
        <priority value="INFO" />
    </category>


    <!-- Perhaps add some extra logging for org.springframework.jdbc.core -->
    <category name="org.springframework.jdbc.core">
        <priority value="INFO" />
    </category>

    <!-- Setup the root logger -->
    <root>
        <priority value="INFO"></priority>
<!--        <appender-ref ref="EMAIL_ASYNC" />  -->
        <appender-ref ref="CONSOLE"/>
    </root>
</configuration>

However, spring is logging debug info all over, here is a sample of catalina.out:

15:46:03.535 [http-bio-8080-exec-3] DEBUG o.s.s.w.u.m.AntPathRequestMatcher - Checking match of request : '/oauth/token'; against '/oauth/cache_approvals' 
15:46:03.536 [http-bio-8080-exec-3] DEBUG o.s.s.w.u.m.AntPathRequestMatcher -     Checking match of request : '/oauth/token'; against '/oauth/uncache_approvals' 
15:46:03.536 [http-bio-8080-exec-3] DEBUG o.s.s.w.u.m.AntPathRequestMatcher - Checking match of request : '/oauth/token'; against '/oauth/token' 
15:46:03.536 [http-bio-8080-exec-3] DEBUG o.s.security.web.FilterChainProxy -
 /oauth/token?grant_type=password&client_id=my-trusted-client-with-secret&client_secret=somesecret&username=seema&password=jrd@123456 at position 1 of 7 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'SecurityContextPersistenceFilter'

Please note that i'm not that much of a spring expert so it might be something as simple as some missing dependencies in maven (slf4j or something).

What i'm sure of is that log4j.xml is in the correct location and that it gets loaded from spring.

EDIT:

I added the debug flags as suggested by stephane and here is the output:
  delegate: false^M
  repositories:^M
    /WEB-INF/classes/^M
----------> Parent Classloader:^M
org.apache.catalina.loader.StandardClassLoader@69fc49ef^M
.
log4j: Using URL [file:/var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/propspace-api/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.xml] for automatic log4j configuration.
log4j: Preferred configurator class: org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator
log4j: System property is :null
log4j: Standard DocumentBuilderFactory search succeded.
log4j: DocumentBuilderFactory is: com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl
log4j: debug attribute= "null".
log4j: Ignoring debug attribute.
log4j: reset attribute= "false".
log4j: Threshold ="null".
log4j: Retreiving an instance of org.apache.log4j.Logger.
log4j: Setting [org.apache] additivity to [true].
log4j: Level value for org.apache is  [ERROR].
log4j: org.apache level set to ERROR
log4j: Retreiving an instance of org.apache.log4j.Logger.
log4j: Setting [org.springframework] additivity to [true].
log4j: Level value for org.springframework is  [ERROR].
log4j: org.springframework level set to ERROR
log4j: Retreiving an instance of org.apache.log4j.Logger.
log4j: Setting [org.springframework.data] additivity to [true].
log4j: Level value for org.springframework.data is  [ERROR].
log4j: org.springframework.data level set to ERROR
log4j: Retreiving an instance of org.apache.log4j.Logger.
log4j: Setting [org.springframework.jdbc.core] additivity to [true].
log4j: Level value for org.springframework.jdbc.core is  [WARN].
log4j: org.springframework.jdbc.core level set to WARN
log4j: Level value for root is  [WARN].
log4j: root level set to WARN
log4j: Class name: [org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender]
log4j: Setting property [threshold] to [DEBUG].
log4j: Setting property [target] to [System.out].


`So far so good, but two lines later, i'm still getting the spring debug messages:
`17:26:00.630 [localhost-startStop-1] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Returning cached instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.security.methodSecurityMetadataSourceAdvisor'
17:26:00.630 [localhost-startStop-1] DEBUG o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Returning cached instance of singleton bean 'org.springframework.transaction.config.internalTransactionAdvisor'
`

Answer 1

Thanks Stephane, This post Actually guided me to exclude the dependencies to logback and jcl-over-slf4j. Now it's working fine.