Most operating systems, when you ask them to delete a file that is in use (like the log file), remove the file from the file system, but physically it is still on disk and the program using it can still access it. In other words, log4j is still assessing and writing to the log file, even after you delete the file. Therefore, there is no way for log4j to tell that you have deleted the file. You could look at the jboss.system:service=Logging,type=Log4jService MBean, using the stop and start operations might let you do what you are trying to do. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4087457#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...