Re: Heads up: persistent journal has been enabled in systemd

[Scott Kitterman <debian@kitterman.com>]

On February 6, 2020 5:22:15 AM UTC, Scott Kitterman <debian@kitterman.com> wrote:
>
>
>On February 5, 2020 8:43:43 AM UTC, Bastian Blank <waldi@debian.org>
>wrote:
>>Hi Scott
>>
>>On Wed, Feb 05, 2020 at 07:44:25AM +0000, Scott Kitterman wrote:
>>> >> Of course the fact that I can't use all the tools available to
>>> >manipulate text 
>>> >> files to follow or analyze logs is problematic.  If I'm using
>>> >journalctl, how 
>>> >> do I replicate 'tail -f /var/log/mail.loog'?
>>> >
>>> >journalctl -f SYSLOG_IDENTIFIER=2
>>> >
>>> Do syslog facilities really have to be addressed by number rather
>>than name?  That seems like a horrible interface.
>>
>>That's because you asked a pretty specific question and you've been
>>told the exact replacement.
>>
>>However, you most likely don't actually want to tail this specific
>>file.
>>It is a solution for a more abstract problem, e.g. "I want to see logs
>>from Postfix".  And this question got a different answer.
>
>Yes, it's been demonstrated that what I'm after won't be impossible
>with journalctl, only far more difficult.  And yes, I quite frequently
>find myself tailing that specific file because it has exactly the
>information I need.  Please don't explain to me what I want like you
>understand it better than I do.
>
>I understand the premise that journalctl offers the promise of better
>interfaces to system logs.  I think it's a long way from that now and I
>don't think my uses of system logs are particularly niche.
>
>Scott K

I went back this far in the thread to try to get back before it went off the rails (IMO).  

I get that the results of this discussion aren't going to be my preference.  Ok.  Win some, lose some.  I think it's a bad decision for Debian, but it's not my call.  Let's move on.

I have one specific request relative to this change that should be pretty easy:

Please include in the bullseye release notes a description of this change and tell users how to restore the buster logging configuration if they prefer it.

Scott K