FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_25-b17)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
(not relevant)

EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
not relevant for reproducing the issue

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
The logger hierachy gets inconsistent between " systemContext " and " userContext " . While setting the log level at the root logger programmatically to " FINEST " is propagated to all children, setting the " java.awt " node to " INFO " afterwards shows no effect in an applet context, " java.awt.* " loggers still log at " FINEST " .

The reason for this seems to be that hierarchy construction only takes into account the loggers from the respective context.

While the below code works in a plain app, in a (signed) applet is does not.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Code below not working in a browser environment with separate logging user contexts

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Logging for events in all child nodes of " java.awt " should be disabled when level below INFO.
ACTUAL -
Logging for events in child nodes of " java.awt " is still FINEST.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.util.logging.FileHandler;
import java.util.logging.Handler;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter;

import javax.swing.JApplet;
import javax.swing.JLabel;

public class HelloWorldApplet extends JApplet {

@Override
public void init() {
super.init();

// Add the ubiquitous " Hello World " label.
JLabel label = new JLabel( " Hello World " );
add(label);

try {

// just to make readable
System.setProperty( " java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format " ,
 " [%3$s][%4$s][%5$s]%n " );
Handler handler = new FileHandler( " %h/test.log " );
handler.setLevel(Level.FINEST);
handler.setFormatter(new SimpleFormatter());
Logger.getLogger( " " ).addHandler(handler);

// this is the " real issue " *******************************
Logger.getLogger( " " ).setLevel(Level.FINEST);
Logger.getLogger( " java.awt " ).setLevel(Level.INFO);
Logger.getLogger( " sun.awt " ).setLevel(Level.INFO);
// ********************************************************

} catch (Exception e) {
//
}

Logger.getLogger( " my.logger " ).log(Level.FINEST, " now ui is visible " );
}
}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
No idea. One must either look up potential children in all contexts or eager create parent nodes.