diff --git a/dev-tools/maven/solr/core/pom.xml.template b/dev-tools/maven/solr/core/pom.xml.template
index 16d50923c59..c3273c98441 100644
--- a/dev-tools/maven/solr/core/pom.xml.template
+++ b/dev-tools/maven/solr/core/pom.xml.template
@@ -60,12 +60,6 @@
       <groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
       <artifactId>solr-solrj</artifactId>
       <version>${project.version}</version>
-      <exclusions>
-        <exclusion> <!-- log4j-over-slf4j clashes with log4j -->
-          <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-          <artifactId>log4j-over-slf4j</artifactId>
-        </exclusion>
-      </exclusions>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.lucene</groupId>
diff --git a/dev-tools/maven/solr/solrj/pom.xml.template b/dev-tools/maven/solr/solrj/pom.xml.template
index 9066e341b83..81a4231abbd 100644
--- a/dev-tools/maven/solr/solrj/pom.xml.template
+++ b/dev-tools/maven/solr/solrj/pom.xml.template
@@ -77,14 +77,16 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
       <artifactId>log4j-over-slf4j</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
-      <artifactId>httpmime</artifactId>
+      <optional>true</optional>  <!-- let the end user decide... they may be using log4j directly! -->
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
       <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
+      <optional>true</optional>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
+      <artifactId>httpmime</artifactId>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
diff --git a/dev-tools/maven/solr/webapp/pom.xml.template b/dev-tools/maven/solr/webapp/pom.xml.template
index f6c82f643c9..7af6a9d17b6 100644
--- a/dev-tools/maven/solr/webapp/pom.xml.template
+++ b/dev-tools/maven/solr/webapp/pom.xml.template
@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@
       <artifactId>slf4j-jdk14</artifactId>
       <scope>runtime</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>log4j-over-slf4j</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   <build>
     <directory>${build-directory}</directory>