diff --git a/test/log4js.json b/test/log4js.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a4e54a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/log4js.json
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{
+  "appenders": [
+    { 
+      "category": "tests", 
+      "type": "file", 
+      "filename": "tmp-tests.log", 
+      "layout": { 
+        "type": "messagePassThrough" 
+      } 
+    }
+  ],
+  
+  "levels": {
+    "tests":  "WARN"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/logging.js b/test/logging.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09b88a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/logging.js
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+var vows = require('vows'), 
+assert = require('assert');
+
+vows.describe('log4js').addBatch({
+    'getLogger': {
+	topic: function() {
+	    var log4js = require('../lib/log4js')();
+	    log4js.clearAppenders();
+	    var logger = log4js.getLogger('tests');
+	    logger.setLevel("DEBUG");
+	    return logger;
+	},
+
+	'should take a category and return a logger': function(logger) {
+	    assert.equal(logger.category, 'tests');
+	    assert.equal(logger.level.toString(), "DEBUG");
+	    assert.isFunction(logger.debug);
+	    assert.isFunction(logger.info);
+	    assert.isFunction(logger.warn);
+	    assert.isFunction(logger.error);
+	    assert.isFunction(logger.fatal);
+	},
+	
+	'log events' : {
+	    topic: function(logger) {
+		var events = [];
+		logger.addListener("log", function (logEvent) { events.push(logEvent); });
+		logger.debug("Debug event");
+		logger.trace("Trace event 1");
+		logger.trace("Trace event 2");
+		logger.warn("Warning event");
+		return events;
+	    },
+
+	    'should emit log events': function(events) {
+		assert.equal(events[0].level.toString(), 'DEBUG');
+		assert.equal(events[0].message, 'Debug event');
+		assert.instanceOf(events[0].startTime, Date);
+	    },
+
+	    'should not emit events of a lower level': function(events) {
+		assert.length(events, 2);
+		assert.equal(events[1].level.toString(), 'WARN');
+	    }
+	},
+
+    },
+
+    'fileAppender': {
+	topic: function() {
+	    var appender, logmessages = [], thing = "thing", fakeFS = {
+		openSync: function() {
+		    assert.equal(arguments[0], './tmp-tests.log');
+		    assert.equal(arguments[1], 'a');
+		    assert.equal(arguments[2], 0644);
+		    return thing;
+		},
+		write: function() {
+		    assert.equal(arguments[0], thing);
+		    assert.isString(arguments[1]);
+		    assert.isNull(arguments[2]);
+		    assert.equal(arguments[3], "utf8");
+		    logmessages.push(arguments[1]);
+		}
+	    },
+	    log4js = require('../lib/log4js')(fakeFS);
+	    log4js.clearAppenders();
+	    
+	    appender = log4js.fileAppender('./tmp-tests.log', log4js.messagePassThroughLayout);
+	    log4js.addAppender(appender, 'file-test');	    
+
+	    var logger = log4js.getLogger('file-test');
+	    logger.debug("this is a test");
+
+	    return logmessages;
+	},
+	'should write log messages to file': function(logmessages) {	    
+	    assert.length(logmessages, 1);
+	    assert.equal(logmessages, "this is a test\n");
+	}
+    },
+
+    'configure' : {
+	topic: function() {
+	    var messages = {}, fakeFS = {
+		openSync: function(file) {
+		    return file;
+		},
+		write: function(file, message) {
+		    if (!messages.hasOwnProperty(file)) {
+			messages[file] = [];
+		    }
+		    messages[file].push(message);
+		},
+		readFileSync: function(file, encoding) {
+		    return require('fs').readFileSync(file, encoding);
+		}
+	    },
+	    log4js = require('../lib/log4js')(fakeFS);
+	    return [ log4js, messages ];
+	},
+	'should load appender configuration from a json file': function(args) {
+	    var log4js = args[0], messages = args[1];
+	    delete messages['tmp-tests.log'];
+	    log4js.clearAppenders();
+	    //this config file defines one file appender (to ./tmp-tests.log)
+	    //and sets the log level for "tests" to WARN
+	    log4js.configure('test/log4js.json');
+	    var logger = log4js.getLogger("tests");	    
+	    logger.info('this should not be written to the file');
+	    logger.warn('this should be written to the file');
+	    assert.length(messages['tmp-tests.log'], 1);
+	    assert.equal(messages['tmp-tests.log'][0], 'this should be written to the file\n');
+	},
+	'should handle logLevelFilter configuration': function(args) {
+	    var log4js = args[0], messages = args[1];
+	    delete messages['tmp-tests.log'];
+	    delete messages['tmp-tests-warnings.log'];
+	    log4js.clearAppenders();
+	    log4js.configure('test/with-logLevelFilter.json');
+	    var logger = log4js.getLogger("tests");
+	    logger.info('main');
+	    logger.error('both');
+	    logger.warn('both');
+	    logger.debug('main');
+
+	    assert.length(messages['tmp-tests.log'], 4);
+	    assert.length(messages['tmp-tests-warnings.log'], 2);
+	    assert.deepEqual(messages['tmp-tests.log'], ['main\n','both\n','both\n','main\n']);
+	    assert.deepEqual(messages['tmp-tests-warnings.log'], ['both\n','both\n']);
+	}
+    }
+	    
+}).export(module);
diff --git a/test/with-logLevelFilter.json b/test/with-logLevelFilter.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1ac2cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/with-logLevelFilter.json
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+{
+  "appenders": [
+    { 
+      "category": "tests", 
+      "type": "logLevelFilter",
+      "level": "WARN",
+      "appender": {
+        "type": "file",
+        "filename": "tmp-tests-warnings.log", 
+        "layout": { 
+          "type": "messagePassThrough" 
+        } 
+      }
+    },
+    { 
+      "category": "tests", 
+      "type": "file",
+      "filename": "tmp-tests.log", 
+      "layout": { 
+        "type": "messagePassThrough" 
+      } 
+    }
+  ],
+  
+  "levels": {
+    "tests":  "DEBUG"
+  }
+}