No boot log available

[laksdjfaasdf]

I tried enabling boot log in

/etc/default/bootlogd

with:

# Run bootlogd at startup ?
BOOTLOGD_ENABLE=Yes

I think this is the way in Debian/Ubuntu to get a boot log in

/var/log/boot

!?

Sorry, if I'm wrong but I need a boot log cause I wanna file a sendmail bug.

[Nicholas Wheeler (dragoncow2)]

This isn't the right place for this bug...

[Jarl (jarl-dk)]

Nicholas, could you ellaborate a little bit.

If this isn't the right place for this bug, could please tell where the right place is.

If it is because it is not a bug at all beacause a decision has been made (after a public discussion) that ubuntu shall not log boot messages at all, and the summary "Cannot enable boot log" is actually a feature request, then could you please point to any information, that this is how ubuntu is supposed to work, and changed the status of the bug to a wishlist.

If it is because the description is wrong. That is, the way to enable logging during boot process is done differently than modifying /etc/default/bootlogd, then please let us know how you enable logging during boot.

If it is because it is assigned to the wrong ubuntu package, please reassign it to the correct ubuntu package, in staed of rejecting it as a ubuntu bug.

Please focus on the summary "Cannot enable boot log" which is a bug, even though the description of how felix.rommel tried to enable it is wrong.

Jarl

[Charles Atkinson (7-launchpad-catcons-co-uk)]

If this is the right report for "no boot logging in ubuntu" then it is the right place to comment on Scott James Remnant's explanation of why bootlogd cannot be used as a workaround for this problem.

In a comment on bug 328881 "init: support logging of job output" (https://bugs.launchpad.net/upstart/+bug/328881/comments/19), Scott explained that bootlogd cannot be installed at the same time as upstart (conflicting package dependencies) and does not work with usplash. Thanks, Scott for, for the explanation.

It is not bootlogd itself that cannot be installed at the same time as the upstart package; it is the sysvinit package which cannot be installed at the same time (bootlogd is part of the sysvinit package). Many people have installed bootlogd alone (that is not as part of the sysvinit package) and have found it an effective workaround for the broken upstart boot logging. Details in https://bugs.launchpad.net/upstart/+bug/98955/ from comment #29 onwards and in http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/howto-workaround-broken-upstart-boot-logging-746468/#post3637957.

The fact that bootlogd does not work with usplash is an inconvenience but not a showstopper; given the choice between no boot logging and no usplash most of us would happily accept having to turn off usplash to get boot logging (if we haven't turned it off already to see what's happening during boot).

Scott also explained that fixing the broken upstart boot logging is "is on my TODO list, but it's about item 246 right now and probably in the karmic+2 timeframe". That is a long time to go without an essential system administration diagnosis tool.

Please, maintainers, given the importance of boot logging, the probable time to fix upstart and the known effectiveness of the bootlogd workaround, please consider supporting a bootlogd package that can be installed at the same time as the upstart package, to provide boot logging until upstart is fixed.

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

On Tue, 2009-08-25 at 10:08 +0000, Charles Atkinson wrote:

> Please, maintainers, given the importance of boot logging, the probable
> time to fix upstart and the known effectiveness of the bootlogd
> workaround, please consider supporting a bootlogd package that can be
> installed at the same time as the upstart package, to provide boot
> logging until upstart is fixed.
>
Again, which "maintainers" are you talking to here?

You seem to be of the opinion that there's an army of developers who
work on Ubuntu's boot just idling and deliberately ignoring this bug.
There isn't. There's just me.

If you want it done more urgently, *you're going to do need to do it
yourself*

Scott
--
Scott James Remnant
<email address hidden>

[HousieMousie2 (housiemousie2)]

Scott,

Aside from getting off of your back... is there anything non-programmers can do to help here?

Erica

[Charles Atkinson (7-launchpad-catcons-co-uk)]

Hello Scott :-)

Regards "If you want it done more urgently, *you're going to do need to do it yourself*", it's already done.

Sergei Ivanov's workaround described in https://bugs.launchpad.net/upstart/+bug/98955/ from comment #29 onwards and in http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/howto-workaround-broken-upstart-boot-logging-746468/#post3637957 builds a .deb from source code. Sergei has said that he is not willing to maintain it but it's ready and tested; please consider taking it up as a supported ubuntu package.

Best

Charles

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

On Tue, 2009-08-25 at 16:29 +0000, Charles Atkinson wrote:

> Regards "If you want it done more urgently, *you're going to do need to
> do it yourself*", it's already done.
>
> Sergei Ivanov's workaround described in
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/upstart/+bug/98955/ from comment #29 onwards
> and in http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/howto-
> workaround-broken-upstart-boot-logging-746468/#post3637957 builds a .deb
> from source code. Sergei has said that he is not willing to maintain it
> but it's ready and tested; please consider taking it up as a supported
> ubuntu package.
>
That's not the correct way to do that; we still have the sysvinit source
package in Ubuntu (sysvinit-utils, sysv-rc and initscripts are built
from it), the correct fix would be to have that package build bootlogd
as a separate binary (or even put it in the sysvinit-utils package).

In fact, I'm pretty sure this is already "fixed in Debian" so just needs
somebody to work on a sysvinit merge.

Scott
--
Scott James Remnant
<email address hidden>

[Charles Atkinson (7-launchpad-catcons-co-uk)]

Hello Scott :-)

I understand you're thinking of a standalone syslogd .deb for ubuntu only, built either from the ubuntu sysvinit source plus unspecified fixes or by merging the probably already fixed Debian source into the ubuntu sysvinit source.

I'm ignorant but willing and have a little relevant experience. If you post links to necessary technical background, procedures, sources, testing requirements etc. then I'll have a go.

If you are willing to support me in that, what is the best way for us to communicate?

Best

Charles

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

On Tue, 2009-08-25 at 18:07 +0000, Charles Atkinson wrote:

> If you are willing to support me in that, what is the best way for us to
> communicate?
>
I'm on IRC during UK working hours.

Scott
--
Scott James Remnant
<email address hidden>

[Alvin (alvind)]

This bug is not exactly the same as Bug 328881 , but fixing Bug 328881 will also fix this. Should this be marked as a duplicate?

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Note that lucid now includes Plymouth, which logs all console messages into /var/log/boot.log