diff --git a/assembly/src/release/conf/log4j.properties b/assembly/src/release/conf/log4j.properties
index ee3679879d..13267b3ba2 100644
--- a/assembly/src/release/conf/log4j.properties
+++ b/assembly/src/release/conf/log4j.properties
@@ -48,8 +48,15 @@ log4j.appender.logfile.file=${activemq.data}/activemq.log
 log4j.appender.logfile.maxFileSize=1024KB
 log4j.appender.logfile.maxBackupIndex=5
 log4j.appender.logfile.append=true
-log4j.appender.logfile.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
-log4j.appender.logfile.layout.ConversionPattern=%d | %-5p | %m | %c | %t%n
+log4j.appender.logfile.layout=org.apache.log4j.EnhancedPatternLayout
+log4j.appender.logfile.layout.ConversionPattern=%d | %-5p | %m | %c | %t%n%throwable{short}
+
+# now, by default, we only render exceptions in short (first line) to avoid to pollute log file
+# if you want to render the full exception stack trace, you can use the following pattern
+#
+# log4j.appender.logfile.layout.ConversionPattern=%d | %-5p | %m | %c | %t%n%throwable{full}
+#
+
 # use some of the following patterns to see MDC logging data
 #
 # %X{activemq.broker}