Logback supports reconfiguration. For example it can check for changes in logback.xml every 30 seconds (as I read somewhere else this check happens on every 16th logging event):

<configuration scan="true" scanPeriod="30 seconds">...</configuration>

Java7 however supports monitoring file changes using a WatchService (http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/nio/file/WatchService.html). A WatchService would offer two big advantages:

• instant configuration changes
• no periodical checks for file changes

I am aware that the minimum JDK version was recently raised to Java6, which is not Java7. But wouldn't it be possible to make use of that feature when avaialble?