[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: systemd's journal



> On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 02:53:39PM +0400, Oleg wrote:
>> scp /var/log/syslog ...
>> 
>> Why do i need an unneeded layer for this - journalctl?
> 
> Heh. Maybe we can turn this into a useful question:
> 
> Assume that I have a broken system (maybe the disk is partially broken
> or it got owned and I don't want to rely on its toolbox anymore). Now
> for some reason, I can still access /var/log/journal. Maybe I even have
> an offline copy of the FSS[1] keys? So yeah, what I'll be doing is
> copying off /var/log/journal from that system before more harm happens.
> Unfortunately my recovery system runs sysvinit (not an unlikely scenario
> these days). There is no journalctl on that system. So what do I do now?
> 
> For the record: If the recovery system does run systemd, you go
> journalctl -D /path/to/your/journal/copy.

Small correction here: The recovery system needs to have systemd
*installed*, not running. All you need is the journalctl tool.
journalctl itself doesn't require systemd to be PID1 or a running
journald daemon.

> So for the time being (i.e. until all of my systems and recovery systems
> are converted to systemd), I do see a slight[2] disadvantage about using
> the journal here. It may take even longer until all initramfs will use
> systemd (and I do want to read logs from the initramfs if all I can
> mount is the /var/log).

With my rsyslog (and systemd maintainer) hat on, let me add a few
remarks here:

We still do install rsyslog by default and will continue to do so for
the forseeable future (for reasons like the one you mentioned).

So your text-based logs won't be gone with the switch to systemd.
Let me repeat that: Jessie will have text-based logs, nothing in that
regard changes.
Actually it does: systemd can feed additional information into syslog
(e.g. from daemons stdout/stderr), so you'll get a syslog with more
complete information when running under systemd.

As for journald, we currently don't enable persistent logging in
journald (persistent logging can be done by creating a folder
/var/log/journal with the appropriate permissions).


Michael

-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature


Reply to: