IAppender.Name does not uniquely identify an appender #340

src/changelog/3.5.1/340-appender-name-not-unique.xml

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<entry xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+       xmlns="https://logging.apache.org/xml/ns"
+       xsi:schemaLocation="https://logging.apache.org/xml/ns https://logging.apache.org/xml/ns/log4j-changelog-0.xsd"
+       type="fixed">
+  <issue id="340" link="https://github.com/apache/logging-log4net/issues/340"/>
+  <description format="asciidoc">Stop documenting `IAppender.Name` as unique. Uniqueness is not
+  enforced, and `GetAppender(string)` and `RemoveAppender(string)` now say they act on the first
+  attached appender with that name (reported by @hidingmyname, fixed by @FreeAndNil)</description>
+</entry>

src/log4net/Appender/AppenderSkeleton.cs

@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ public virtual void ActivateOptions()
   }
 
   /// <summary>
-  /// Gets or sets the name that uniquely identifies this appender.
+  /// Gets or sets the name of this appender.
   /// </summary>
   public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
 

src/log4net/Appender/BufferingForwardingAppender.cs

@@ -133,13 +133,7 @@ public virtual AppenderCollection Appenders
     }
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Looks for the appender with the specified name.
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to lookup.</param>
-  /// <returns>
-  /// The appender with the specified name, or <see langword="null"/>.
-  /// </returns>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public virtual IAppender? GetAppender(string? name)
   {
     lock (LockObj)
@@ -195,16 +189,7 @@ public virtual void RemoveAllAppenders()
     return null;
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Removes the appender with the specified name from the list of appenders.
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to remove.</param>
-  /// <returns>The appender removed from the list</returns>
-  /// <remarks>
-  /// The appender removed is not closed.
-  /// If you are discarding the appender you must call
-  /// <see cref="IAppender.Close"/> on the appender removed.
-  /// </remarks>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public virtual IAppender? RemoveAppender(string? name)
   {
     lock (LockObj)

src/log4net/Appender/ForwardingAppender.cs

@@ -123,18 +123,7 @@ public virtual AppenderCollection Appenders
     }
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Looks for the appender with the specified name.
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to lookup.</param>
-  /// <returns>
-  /// The appender with the specified name, or <see langword="null"/>.
-  /// </returns>
-  /// <remarks>
-  /// <para>
-  /// Get the named appender attached to this appender.
-  /// </para>
-  /// </remarks>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public virtual IAppender? GetAppender(string? name)
   {
     lock (LockObj)
@@ -190,16 +179,7 @@ public virtual void RemoveAllAppenders()
     return null;
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Removes the appender with the specified name from the list of appenders.
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to remove.</param>
-  /// <returns>The appender removed from the list</returns>
-  /// <remarks>
-  /// The appender removed is not closed.
-  /// If you are discarding the appender you must call
-  /// <see cref="IAppender.Close"/> on the appender removed.
-  /// </remarks>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public virtual IAppender? RemoveAppender(string? name)
   {
     lock (LockObj)

src/log4net/Appender/IAppender.cs

@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ public interface IAppender
   /// </summary>
   /// <value>The name of the appender.</value>
   /// <remarks>
-  /// <para>The name uniquely identifies the appender.</para>
+  /// <para>Used to look the appender up by name. Uniqueness is not enforced, and a lookup returns the first match.</para>
   /// </remarks>
   string Name { get; set; }
 }

src/log4net/Core/IAppenderAttachable.cs

@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ public interface IAppenderAttachable
   /// Returns an attached appender with the <paramref name="name"/> specified.
   /// If no appender with the specified name is found <see langword="null"/> will be
   /// returned.
+  /// If several attached appenders share the name, the first one attached is returned.
   /// </para>
   /// </remarks>
   IAppender? GetAppender(string? name);
@@ -109,6 +110,7 @@ public interface IAppenderAttachable
   /// <returns>The appender removed from the list</returns>
   /// <remarks>
   /// <para>
+  /// If several attached appenders share the name, only the first one attached is removed.
   /// The appender removed is not closed.
   /// If you are discarding the appender you must call
   /// <see cref="IAppender.Close"/> on the appender removed.

src/log4net/Repository/Hierarchy/Logger.cs

@@ -218,11 +218,7 @@ public virtual AppenderCollection Appenders
     }
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Look for the appender named as <paramref name="name"/>
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to lookup</param>
-  /// <returns>The appender with the name specified, or <see langword="null"/>.</returns>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public virtual IAppender? GetAppender(string? name)
   {
     _appenderLock.AcquireReaderLock();
@@ -295,18 +291,7 @@ public virtual void RemoveAllAppenders()
     return null;
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Remove the appender passed as parameter form the list of appenders.
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to remove</param>
-  /// <returns>The appender removed from the list</returns>
-  /// <remarks>
-  /// <para>
-  /// The appender removed is not closed.
-  /// If you are discarding the appender you must call
-  /// <see cref="IAppender.Close"/> on the appender removed.
-  /// </para>
-  /// </remarks>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public virtual IAppender? RemoveAppender(string? name)
   {
     _appenderLock.AcquireWriterLock();

src/log4net/Util/AppenderAttachedImpl.cs

@@ -206,19 +206,7 @@ public AppenderCollection Appenders
     }
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Gets an attached appender with the specified name.
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to get.</param>
-  /// <returns>
-  /// The appender with the name specified, or <see langword="null"/> if no appender with the
-  /// specified name is found.
-  /// </returns>
-  /// <remarks>
-  /// <para>
-  /// Lookup an attached appender by name.
-  /// </para>
-  /// </remarks>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public IAppender? GetAppender(string? name)
   {
     if (_appenderList is not null && name is not null)
@@ -288,18 +276,7 @@ public void RemoveAllAppenders()
     return appender;
   }
 
-  /// <summary>
-  /// Removes the appender with the specified name from the list of appenders.
-  /// </summary>
-  /// <param name="name">The name of the appender to remove.</param>
-  /// <returns>The appender removed from the list</returns>
-  /// <remarks>
-  /// <para>
-  /// The appender removed is not closed.
-  /// If you are discarding the appender you must call
-  /// <see cref="IAppender.Close"/> on the appender removed.
-  /// </para>
-  /// </remarks>
+  /// <inheritdoc/>
   public IAppender? RemoveAppender(string name) => RemoveAppender(GetAppender(name));
 
   /// <summary>