[Pkg-sysvinit-devel] Bug#791907: bootlogd RC bug now on my radar.

[Andreas Henriksson]

Hello Vincent Lefevre.

On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 03:56:43PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> On 2016-05-12 14:56:38 +0200, Andreas Henriksson wrote:
> > Also, it's still unknown /why/ bootlogd doesn't work with systemd!
> > Apparently bootlogd relies on some facitily not provided by systemd.
> 
> Well, the bootlogd description says:
> 
>   bootlogd logs all messages printed to the system console during
>   system boot, and records those messages to a logfile.
> 
> However, with systemd, nothing seems to be written to the system console
> (well, nothing appears, but I don't know whether something is printed
> but hidden or nothing is printed). This may be the cause.

Thanks for this useful information.

> 
> If a conflict is not possible (at least, bootlogd doesn't seem to hurt),
> I think that having a clear description would be sufficient. Something
> like:
> 
> Description: daemon to log boot messages printed to the system console
>  bootlogd logs all messages printed to the system console during system boot,
>  and records those messages to a logfile.
>  Note that not all init systems print messages to the system console,
>  so that the logfile may remain empty; this is the case with systemd.

While a package description update certainly would be an improvement I'm
not personally totally convinced that would be enough to consider this
bug adressed. On the other hand I really don't have an opinion on how
this is dealt with I'm just interested in getting this bug report off
the RC radar.

> 
> Someone might also want to add a systemd unit file that writes a
> message saying that bootlogd does nothing with systemd, which has
> its own logging system (systemd journal).

If it's possible to create a systemd unit which causes such a message to
be written and logged by bootlogd when booting under systemd would be
possibly the best solution and definitely adress atleast the RC part
of this issue.

Would be great if you're willing to implement your above mentioned
suggestion (either one or both). If needed I could do review
and sponsorship once there's a debdiff available.

Would also be very much appreciated if you wanted to check with
other participants in this bug report (and its duplicate) to verify
they're in agreement on you solution being something they consider
solving it in their view.

Regards,
Andreas Henriksson