Comment 3 for bug 34165

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.