set default LOGLEVEL=off

[Santeri Kannisto]

Ordinary desktop users who are using computers as tools have no idea what logs are, where they are located or what they are for. For them, ufw logs keep slowing the system down and filling hard disk. On the other hand advanced users know how to tune loglevel according to their needs and turn it on if they want.

[Santeri Kannisto (santerikannisto)]

Here is a patch for this bug and #382938 ufw should be enabled by default.

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Please see the comment on LP: #382938.

If the logs are too verbose, file a specific bug about that but I don't believe it makes sense at all for Ubuntu to disable firewall logs completely by default.

[Santeri Kannisto (santerikannisto)]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jeremy. The rationale for proposing this change was not so much logs being to verbose, but unnecessary for those who don't know anything about them nor how to switch them off. On the other hand more advanced users are able to set the loglevel to whatever they want. Same applies to automatically starting the firewall after installing.

I am trying to make ubuntu more desktop user friendly. I am currently building a custom xubuntu for my wife who is using computer only for writing books, reading ebooks and making research papers. For her needs the current firewall defaults make it unnecessary bloatware and even if I preseed it to be enabled, it is wasting her computers hard drive for logs and CPU time for making those log entries. This was more like a wishlist item than a bug report, but I could not find any place for making such wishes. In any case, thanks for considering my input.

I made and uploaded a deb package with my patch for those who might need it. It also has the ufw enabled by default and running right after the installation. You can find the package here: https://launchpad.net/~santerikannisto/+archive/ubuntu/desktop

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

The bug is not that logs are enabled. There are many services on your computer that do logging and Ubuntu is not going to disable logs for all of them.

The bug is that you think the logs take up too much space on your computer. Please give examples of specific unnecessary log messages.

[Santeri Kannisto (santerikannisto)]

I am very new with Ubuntu and I have been checking it out for a few weeks now. Ubuntu did not exist when I was making GNU/Linux distributions last time some 20 years ago. Please bear with me when I do and talk silly things and feel free to point me the right away.

I know this is weird and anarchist and I used to be thinking the same way you are, but I believe the change of thinking is they key for enabling GNU/Linux desktops for the wider audience.

My point is not taking too much space or slowing it down too much, but doing it without any gain. Why to fill the disk with nonsense at all? For most of the ordinary desktop users all logs are nonsense. And for the rest, they surely know how to tweak logging according to their own needs. I guess this all boils down to the question of how to set defaults. Should they be the safest, what most users need, set for those who don't know anything about operating systems, or according to the needs of those who build debs (what's easiest and quickest to do).

You are right saying Ubuntu may not disable all logs, but I will find a solution to this. If nothing else, then by fixing those packages or reconfiguring/redesigning the logging system, or leave logging completely out from my desktop distro if nothing else.