Working with systemd journals
Journaling

Systemd inaugurated a new journal system, journald. We look at how to view and interpret the new system logs.
If you are an ordinary user, you may barely notice systemd. However, if you administer a system, even if only your own, the time is overdue to learn a thing or two about systemd. A useful place to start is with its journals, partly because systemd handles journals in a very organized way, and partly because reading logs is essential to troubleshooting.
Systemd's journals are a replacement for the traditional syslogs. The traditional syslog daemon is gone from a systemd system and replaced by journald, although you might not have noticed because, for now, many distributions are forwarding systemd journals through traditional utilities in a default form similar to those with which you are familiar. You might not even have seen any new boot messages, because, at least initially, many distributions are shipping with the systemd journal not enabled.
If the journal is running, you will have a /var/log/journal
file. If you do not, create the file and run the following command to set the proper permissions:
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.