Log4j does not seem to be using my configuration file - log4j2

Question

I created a simple log4j2.properties file:
status = warn
appender.console.type = Console
appender.console.name = LogToConsole
appender.console.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.console.layout.pattern = %level: %msg%n
rootLogger.level = warn
rootLogger.appenderRef.stdout.ref = LogToConsole
I added a VM argument to the run configuration in eclipse to point to the file.
Here is the resulting command line:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-17.0.1\bin\javaw.exe "-Dlog4j2.configurationFile=G:\My Drive\Dev\CrossFigureSolver\target\classes\log4j2.properties"
-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
-classpath "[...]"
-XX:+ShowCodeDetailsInExceptionMessages com.propfinancing.crossFigure.Solver
But, when my program runs, it seems like log4j2 is not using my config file.
I am getting a lot of logs, including ones at the debug level. Also, they are not the same format as the pattern I specified. Here is an example:
13:16:37.505 [main] DEBUG org.apache.poi.openxml4j.opc.ZipPackage - Save core properties part
I can't find anything except instructions on setting log4j2.configurationFile which I did.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

I was able to use -Dlog4j2.debug and mvn dependency:tree to figure out that spring-boot-starter-web was bringing in slf4j which was interfering with log4j2.
I was able to add these exclusions to the pom.xml file to avoid loading it and now my logging works as expected:
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
<artifactId>log4j-to-slf4j</artifactId>
</exclusion>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
</exclusion>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>jul-to-slf4j</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
I am surprised Spring was causing the problem, but at least now it is solved.