[ADMINAPI-1316] Fix log4net initialization, cross-platform compatibility, and consistent logging

[Copilot]

Problem

The AdminAPI application was not using log4net properly, causing several issues:

1. Missing startup logs: Log4net messages in Program.cs (e.g., "Starting Admin API", "Configuration - ApiMode: V2, Engine: SqlServer") were not appearing at application startup
2. Cross-platform path issues: The application failed to start on Linux/Unix systems due to Windows-style path separators in the log4net configuration path
3. Console logging not visible: Log messages were not appearing in the console output despite being configured
4. Inconsistent logging interfaces: RequestLoggingMiddleware used Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.ILogger instead of log4net.ILog

Root Causes

• Log4net was not initialized before its first use in Program.cs, so early logging calls were lost
• The appsettings.json configuration used backslash path separators (log4net\\log4net.config) which don't work on Linux/Unix
• The log4net configuration used TraceAppender instead of ConsoleAppender, making console output invisible
• File paths used Windows-specific environment variables that don't exist on other platforms
• Mixed logging interfaces created inconsistent log formatting throughout the application

Solution

This PR implements minimal, surgical fixes to resolve all identified issues:

1. Early Log4net Initialization

Added proper log4net initialization in Program.cs before any logging calls, reading the configuration path from appsettings:

// Initialize log4net early so we can use it in Program.cs
var log4netConfigFileName = builder.Configuration.GetValue<string>("Log4NetCore:Log4NetConfigFileName");
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(log4netConfigFileName))
{
    var log4netConfigPath = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, log4netConfigFileName);
    if (File.Exists(log4netConfigPath))
    {
        var log4netConfig = new FileInfo(log4netConfigPath);
        XmlConfigurator.Configure(LogManager.GetRepository(), log4netConfig);
    }
}

2. Cross-Platform Path Compatibility

Fixed path separator in appsettings.json from log4net\\log4net.config to log4net/log4net.config for cross-platform compatibility.

3. Visible Console Logging

Updated log4net.config to use ConsoleAppender instead of TraceAppender and changed the file path to a relative path that works across platforms.

4. Configuration Consistency

Updated the early log4net initialization to read the configuration file path from the Log4NetCore.Log4NetConfigFileName setting, ensuring consistency with the Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Log4Net.AspNetCore integration.

5. Consistent Log4net Usage

Updated RequestLoggingMiddleware to use log4net's ILog interface instead of Microsoft.Extensions.Logging ILogger<T>, ensuring all logging in the application uses log4net consistently:

private static readonly ILog _logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(RequestLoggingMiddleware));

Verification

• ✅ Program.cs log4net messages now appear at startup
• ✅ Console logging works properly on both Windows and Linux
• ✅ File logging continues to work as expected
• ✅ Log4net configuration path is consistently read from appsettings.json
• ✅ RequestLoggingMiddleware now uses log4net ILog with consistent formatting
• ✅ All logging throughout the application now uses log4net format consistently
• ✅ All existing unit tests pass
• ✅ No breaking changes to existing log statements or configuration structure

Impact

This fix ensures that log4net works properly across all supported platforms while maintaining full backward compatibility. The application now has consistent logging throughout, with all components using log4net's ILog interface. The default configuration correctly logs to both console and file as intended, and early startup messages are visible for debugging and monitoring purposes.

Fixes #1316

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Bug: ADMINAPI-1316 Not using log4net properly</issue_title>
<issue_description>### Issue Description

This application should be using log4net for all of its logging statements. The default configuration should be logging to the Console and to a File.

However, I noticed these observations:

• The RequestLoggingMiddleware uses ILogger, which comes from Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.
• There is no dependency injection setting up log4net as the ILogger.
• The Program.cs has log statements, using Log4net, that do not appear at application startup.

We need to review and fix the log4net setup.

Acceptance Criteria

• Do not change any log statements, that is, the strings sent to the logger
• Continue loaded log4net configuration from the log4net.config file

Additional Context

No response</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes #362

---

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[stephenfuqua]

This is truly a better default option.

[stephenfuqua]

@copilot the log4netConfigPath should be read from the appsettings file, which has Log4NetCore.Log4NetConfigFileName in it.

[Copilot]

Updated to read the log4net config path from Log4NetCore.Log4NetConfigFileName in appsettings.json instead of hardcoding it. The change ensures consistency with the existing configuration pattern used by the Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Log4Net.AspNetCore integration. Commit: 0b49c6f

[stephenfuqua]

@copilot also change RequestLoggingMiddleWare.cs to use Log4net's ILog instead of ILogger, and make sure that Program.cs sets up the ILog dependency injection correctly.

[Copilot]

@copilot also change RequestLoggingMiddleWare.cs to use Log4net's ILog instead of ILogger, and make sure that Program.cs sets up the ILog dependency injection correctly.

Updated RequestLoggingMiddleware to use log4net's ILog interface instead of ILogger<T>. The middleware now uses the static logger pattern (private static readonly ILog _logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(RequestLoggingMiddleware))) consistent with other classes in the codebase. All logging calls have been converted to log4net methods (LogDebug→Debug, LogInformation→Info, LogError→Error) and are now logging with the consistent log4net format. No additional DI setup was needed as the static pattern is used. Commit: e3d2d65

[stephenfuqua]

This did not use dependency injection, but that's OK in this case, since we're not unit testing logging.

[stephenfuqua]

This output is much better! Still needs a developer to test the code change thoroughly locally - I only started it up and confirmed the root endpoint works.

Using launch settings from D:\ed-fi\AdminAPI-2.x\Application\EdFi.Ods.AdminApi\Properties\launchSettings.json...
Building...
2025-09-28 16:07:23,461 [1] INFO  Program [(null)] - Starting Admin API
2025-09-28 16:07:23,507 [1] INFO  Program [(null)] - Configuration - ApiMode: V2, Engine: SqlServer
warn: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.Core.KestrelServer[8]
      The ASP.NET Core developer certificate is not trusted. For information about trusting the ASP.NET Core developer certificate, see https://aka.ms/aspnet/https-trust-dev-cert.
2025-09-28 16:07:24,415 [1] WARN  Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.Core.KestrelServer [(null)] - The ASP.NET Core developer certificate is not trusted. For information about trusting the ASP.NET Core developer certificate, see https://aka.ms/aspnet/https-trust-dev-cert.
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[14]
      Now listening on: https://localhost:7214
2025-09-28 16:07:24,598 [1] INFO  Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime [(null)] - Now listening on: https://localhost:7214
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[14]
      Now listening on: http://localhost:5214
2025-09-28 16:07:24,600 [1] INFO  Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime [(null)] - Now listening on: http://localhost:5214
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
2025-09-28 16:07:24,605 [1] INFO  Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime [(null)] - Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
2025-09-28 16:07:24,608 [1] INFO  Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime [(null)] - Hosting environment: Development
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Hosting environment: Development
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Content root path: D:\ed-fi\AdminAPI-2.x\Application\EdFi.Ods.AdminApi
2025-09-28 16:07:24,609 [1] INFO  Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime [(null)] - Content root path: D:\ed-fi\AdminAPI-2.x\Application\EdFi.Ods.AdminApi
2025-09-28 16:08:01,469 [13] INFO  EdFi.Ods.AdminApi.Features.RequestLoggingMiddleware [(null)] - {"path":"/","traceId":"0HNFUQCBVKUDC:00000001"}
2025-09-28 16:08:02,251 [17] INFO  EdFi.Ods.AdminApi.Features.RequestLoggingMiddleware [(null)] - {"path":"/favicon.ico","traceId":"0HNFUQCBVKUDC:00000003"}
2025-09-28 16:08:37,586 [17] INFO  EdFi.Ods.AdminApi.Features.RequestLoggingMiddleware [(null)] - {"path":"/connect/register","traceId":"0HNFUQCBVKUDC:00000005"}
2025-09-28 16:10:23,432 [21] INFO  EdFi.Ods.AdminApi.Features.RequestLoggingMiddleware [(null)] - {"path":"/connect/register","traceId":"0HNFUQCBVKUDE:00000001"}
2025-09-28 16:09:50,175 [13] INFO  EdFi.Ods.AdminApi.Features.RequestLoggingMiddleware [(null)] - {"path":"/connect/register","traceId":"0HNFUQCBVKUDD:00000001"}
2025-09-28 16:10:32,102 [20] INFO  EdFi.Ods.AdminApi.Features.RequestLoggingMiddleware [(null)] - {"path":"/","traceId":"0HNFUQCBVKUDF:00000001"}
2025-09-28 16:12:59,970 [22] INFO  EdFi.Ods.AdminApi.Features.RequestLoggingMiddleware [(null)] - {"path":"/v2/vendors","traceId":"0HNFUQCBVKUDH:00000001"}
2025-09-28 16:13:17,294 [29] INFO  Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime [(null)] - Application is shutting down...

[github-actions]

Test Results

238 tests   237 ✅  10s ⏱️
  4 suites    1 💤
  4 files      0 ❌

Results for commit 8d47e0b.