I understand it is not desirable to have duplicate logging, but there is a corner case where logging that is done during systemd shutdown is lost because rsyslog is killed. This makes shutdown look broken due to it being non-deterministic exactly when rsyslog is killed.
Currently, the easiest way to get accurate logging is creating /var/log/journal. ## Sometimes shutdown logs are brief: Oct 13 18:51:07 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped target Cloud-init target. Oct 13 18:51:07 HOST systemd[1]: Starting Unattended Upgrades Shutdown... Oct 13 18:51:07 HOST systemd[1]: Stopping Session 1 of user ubuntu. Oct 13 18:51:07 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped target Graphical Interface. Oct 13 18:51:07 HOST systemd[1]: Stopping Accounts Service... Oct 13 18:51:07 HOST rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="8.16.0" x-pid="759" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com";] exiting on signal 15. ## Sometimes more detailed Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopping Session 1 of user ubuntu. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopping User Manager for UID 1000... Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped target Timers. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped Daily apt activities. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Reached target Shutdown. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Stopped target Default. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Stopped target Basic System. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Stopped target Timers. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Stopped target Sockets. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Starting Exit the Session... Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped Daily Cleanup of Temporary Directories. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Stopped target Paths. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped target Graphical Interface. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped Timer to automatically refresh installed snaps. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopping ACPI event daemon... Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Starting Unattended Upgrades Shutdown... Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopping Accounts Service... Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Closed Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status /dev/rfkill Watch. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopping Virtual machine log manager... Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped target Cloud-init target. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1277]: Received SIGRTMIN+24 from PID 1592 (kill). Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped Execute cloud user/final scripts. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped Apply the settings specified in cloud-config. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST systemd[1]: Stopped target Cloud-config availability. Oct 13 18:57:33 HOST rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="8.16.0" x-pid="737" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com";] exiting on signal 15. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to systemd in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1618188 Title: systemd journal should be persistent by default: /var/log/journal should be created; remove rsyslog from default installs Status in systemd package in Ubuntu: Triaged Status in ubuntu-meta package in Ubuntu: Triaged Bug description: After upgrading 14.04 -> 16.04, key services are now running on systemd and using the systemd journal for logging. In 14.04, key system logs like /var/log/messages and /var/log/syslog were persistent, but after the upgrade to 16.04 there has a been a regression of sorts: Logs sent to systemd's journald are now being thrown away during reboots. This behavior is controlled by the `Storage=` option in `/etc/systemd/journald.conf`. The default setting is `Storage=auto` which will persist logs in `/var/log/journal/`, *only if the directory already exists*. But the directory was not created as part of the 14.04 -> 16.04 upgrade, so logging was being lost for a while before I realized what was happening. This issue could be solved by either creating /var/log/journal or changing the default Storage behavior to `Storage=persistent`, which would create the directory if need be. ## Related reference * `systemd` currently compounds the issue by having ["journal --disk-usage" report memory usage as disk usage](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/4059), giving the impression that the disk is being used for logging when it isn't. * [User wonders where to find logs from previous boots, unaware that the logs were thrown away](http://askubuntu.com/questions/765315/how-to-find-previous-boot-log-after-ubuntu-16-04-restarts) ## Recommended fix Restoring persistent logging as the default is recommended. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/+bug/1618188/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
