clutters console with messages during normal work

[Elias Oltmanns]

 affects /distros/ubuntu/upstart
 assignee <email address hidden>
 importance high

After an update from 0.2.7-1 to 0.2.7-3, the output of init scripts
executed in the background during normal operation of the running
system is passed on to the console bu upstart-logd -- at least thats
what I suspect. For instance, /etc/init.d/fetchmail start is called in
the background when my computer managed to connect to a certain
network. The output of this script is written to the console and
annoys me when I'm supposed to work.

In the changelog.Debian.gz I found

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
  * Revert upstream logd/"quiet" change in favour of doing it in our
    lsb logging functions instead; seems to work better (fsvo better).
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Since I've never observed this behaviour before (my be just by
chance), upstart-logd might in fact not even be the problem but rather
the change to those lsb logging functions. Sorry, that I can't
investigate this myself at the moment.

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

These messages will come from lsb-base if an init script is started not on a console

[Joshua Swink (yathster)]

It's annoying for init scripts to send their output to the console after the system has started up. The functions in /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh appear to have been written under the explicit assumption that xdm or a similar login manager will be used. I can't think of any other reason that the console would have been given the role of a system log.

Perhaps it would be better for the log_to_console () function to be enabled somehow by /etc/init.d/gdm, instead of assuming that gdm is being used.

[Juri Haberland (haberland)]

It would be nice to have at least a way to disable that "feature", something like a flag in /etc/default/...
I know that there is an environment variable called QUIET which can be set to 'yes', but unfortunately, programs like 'ifup' call sub-shells with a cleaned environment, so that this variable isn't set anymore when scripts in e.g. /etc/network/if-up.d/ are executed.

[Robert Browne (rlist)]

Console clutter also occurs with anacron.
A "...done" is echoed when anacron daily finishes.
This stuffs up lynx screen while browsing.
This comes from lsb-base-logging.sh in
lsb-base 3.2-14ubuntu2