Journaling and Journalctl

Horizon_Brave · 2015-12-18 00:52:39

Hi guys,
So I've been curious as to why we don't have the journal.service unit file. Is this a debian issue? Natively on my B.L install, it seems the binary of /bin/journalctl is present, but the service unit is not used or not installed.

Running any of the jourlnalctl commands produces no output.

Just curious, I know I can still view the /var/log/messages, but I'm curious to see the hype over the systemd journaling..

tknomanzr · 2015-12-18 01:21:35

You will need to explicitely enable it. Edit /etc/systemd/jounrald.conf with

Storage=persistent

Other stuff in there can be configured how you like. I tend to just leave it at defaults. man journald will give you more info.

gako · 2015-12-18 04:37:29

try sudo smile or as root

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-12-18 06:40:31

It is active but logs are only stored if there are problems.

"auto" is similar to "persistent" but the directory /var/log/journal is not created if needed [...] Defaults to "auto"

See journald.conf(5)

EDIT: Just out of interest, can you post the output of:

groups

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2015-12-18 06:41:59)

Horizon_Brave · 2015-12-18 20:36:15

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

It is active but logs are only stored if there are problems.
"auto" is similar to "persistent" but the directory /var/log/journal is not created if needed [...] Defaults to "auto"
See journald.conf(5)
EDIT: Just out of interest, can you post the output of:
groups

I'm not sure what this has to do with the journalctl?

kingghidorah@bunsen:~$ groups
kingghidorah cdrom floppy audio dip video plugdev netdev bluetooth

what am I looking at here?

Horizon_Brave · 2015-12-18 20:38:11

tknomanzr wrote:

You will need to explicitely enable it. Edit /etc/systemd/jounrald.conf with
Storage=persistent
Other stuff in there can be configured how you like. I tend to just leave it at defaults. man journald will give you more info.

Ahh, found it, thanks Tkmncer!

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-12-18 21:49:56

Horizon_Brave wrote:

I'm not sure what this has to do with the journalctl?
kingghidorah@bunsen:~$ groups
kingghidorah cdrom floppy audio dip video plugdev netdev bluetooth
what am I looking at here?

When Debian 8.0 was released, normal users could not access the journal unless they were a member of the "systemd-journal" group.

This is no longer true.

tknomanzr · 2015-12-18 21:57:44

^ As HoaS pointed out, you either enable Storage=persistent or if you choose auto make sure the directory /var/log/journal exists as it won't be created for you with auto. I am not really sure why Debian chose not to enable it by default.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-12-18 22:42:46

tknomanzr wrote:

if you choose auto make sure the directory /var/log/journal exists as it won't be created for you with auto

Are you sure tk?

I can't check (no systemd) but that sounds strange.

I know that systemd creates the folder itself if storage is set to "Persistent" so it seems weird that wouldn't happen with "Auto" hmm

tknomanzr · 2015-12-19 01:18:36

"auto" is similar to "persistent" but the directory /var/log/journal is not created if needed [...] Defaults to "auto"

quoting you tongue but yeah that's it's default behavior, which explains why journalctl does not work out of the box on a Debian install. However, a Live image could be mapped either way to sort it out.

Horizon_Brave · 2015-12-19 03:23:30

Thanks guys... This sort of seems like something that should be in the first time setup prompt though, no?

#1 2015-12-18 00:52:39

Journaling and Journalctl

#2 2015-12-18 01:21:35

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#3 2015-12-18 04:37:29

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#4 2015-12-18 06:40:31

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#5 2015-12-18 20:36:15

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#6 2015-12-18 20:38:11

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#7 2015-12-18 21:49:56

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#8 2015-12-18 21:57:44

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#9 2015-12-18 22:42:46

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#10 2015-12-19 01:18:36

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

#11 2015-12-19 03:23:30

Re: Journaling and Journalctl

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