On 2025-12-12 at 08:59, Paul M. Foster wrote: > On 12/12/25 5:10 AM, Nicolas George wrote: > >> Paul M. Foster (HE12025-12-11): >> >>> On systems which don't use systemd, the log files are in clear >>> text, and you can simply use cat or more or less and/or grep to >>> read through the files. This isn't true for systemd systems. >> >> This is not true. I have systemd systems with logs in plain text. >> You are making unfounded assumptions. > > Really? Well, I just asked search.brave.com this question: > > "are systemd system logs binary rather than plain text" > > And the answer was "Yes". This is the reason you are advised to use > journalctl to access the logs. And the underlying reason for my > original question. In the pre-systemd days, system logs were plain > text. I know because I frequently had to scan them.
The disconnect here is over the fact that while, yes, systemd's internal log storage format is binary and can only (AFAIK) be parsed/etc. by systemd's own internal tools, *systems which use systemd* can - and do - often also have other utilities in place which effectively export those logs into plain-text format (in the usual expected locations) on the fly. From what I understand, this is implemented by way of systemd having a facility to forward log messages to other utilities rather than keeping them only within its own - so to speak - ecosystem. The main example (that gets used in practice, in Debian, that I am aware of) of such a utility is rsyslog; there have been two separate messages pointing to it elsewhere in this thread already. This type of setup is almost certainly what Nicolas uses on the systems he's referring to. Why he has chosen to be oblique about that, rather than describe the situation explicitly (and thereby clear up confusion), I am not sure. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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