diff --git a/catalog/src/util/logger.hpp b/catalog/src/util/logger.hpp
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/catalog/src/util/logger.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+/* -*- Mode: C++; c-file-style: "gnu"; indent-tabs-mode:nil -*- */
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2012-2015 University of California, Los Angeles,
+ *               2015      Colorado State University
+ *
+ * This file is part of ChronoSync, synchronization library for distributed realtime
+ * applications for NDN.
+ *
+ * ChronoSync is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms
+ * of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either
+ * version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * ChronoSync is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
+ * without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
+ * PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+ * ChronoSync, e.g., in COPYING.md file.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ * @author Zhenkai Zhu <http://irl.cs.ucla.edu/~zhenkai/>
+ * @author Chaoyi Bian <bcy@pku.edu.cn>
+ * @author Alexander Afanasyev <http://lasr.cs.ucla.edu/afanasyev/index.html>
+ * @author Chengyu Fan <chengyu@cs.colostate.edu>
+ */
+
+#ifndef ATMOS_CATALOG_LOGGER_HPP
+#define ATMOS_CATALOG_LOGGER_HPP
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LOG4CXX
+
+#include <log4cxx/logger.h>
+#include <log4cxx/propertyconfigurator.h>
+
+#define INIT_LOGGER(name) \
+  static log4cxx::LoggerPtr staticModuleLogger = log4cxx::Logger::getLogger(name)
+
+#define _LOG_DEBUG(x) \
+  LOG4CXX_DEBUG(staticModuleLogger, x)
+
+#define _LOG_TRACE(x) \
+  LOG4CXX_TRACE(staticModuleLogger, x)
+
+#define _LOG_FUNCTION(x) \
+  LOG4CXX_TRACE(staticModuleLogger, __FUNCTION__ << "(" << x << ")")
+
+#define _LOG_FUNCTION_NOARGS \
+  LOG4CXX_TRACE(staticModuleLogger, __FUNCTION__ << "()")
+
+#define _LOG_ERROR(x) \
+  LOG4CXX_ERROR(staticModuleLogger, x)
+
+#else // HAVE_LOG4CXX
+
+#define INIT_LOGGER(name)
+#define _LOG_FUNCTION(x)
+#define _LOG_FUNCTION_NOARGS
+#define _LOG_TRACE(x)
+#define INIT_LOGGERS(x)
+#define _LOG_ERROR(x)
+
+#ifdef _DEBUG
+
+#include <thread>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <ndn-cxx/util/time.hpp>
+
+// to print out messages, must be in debug mode
+#define _LOG_DEBUG(x) \
+  std::clog << ndn::time::system_clock::now() << " " << std::this_thread::get_id() << \
+               " " << x << std::endl
+
+#else // _DEBUG
+
+#define _LOG_DEBUG(x)
+
+#endif // _DEBUG
+
+#endif // HAVE_LOG4CXX
+
+#endif // ATMOS_CATALOG_LOGGER_HPP