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ChromeHearts
Asked: 2016-10-01 18:58:13 +0800 CST

How to allow a user to use journalctl to see user-specific systemd service logs?

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I am running user-level services in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. For example, I have my test.service located at ~/.config/systemd/user/test.service.

I was able to run the service by doing

systemctl --user start test.target

However, when I try to read its log using journalctl, I got this error message:

journalctl --user -u test.service
Hint: You are currently not seeing messages from other users and the system.
  Users in the 'systemd-journal' group can see all messages. Pass -q to
  turn off this notice.
No journal files were opened due to insufficient permissions.

How can I use journalctl for user's specific unit?

permissions systemd systemctl ubuntu-16.04 journalctl

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    On older systemd versions, you'll have to use journalctl --user --user-unit=SERVICENAME (on newer versions journalctl --user -u SERVICENAME will work fine).

    However, this only works if the Storage directive of the [Journal] section of /etc/systemd/journald.conf is set to persistent (instead of auto or volatile). Reboot after editing the configuration file and the user will be able to see the journal.

    More information: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/journald.conf.html https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/systemd-devel/2016-October/037554.html

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  2. I was not able to make it work with the --user and other such options. However, I can see the data when I use journalctl on its own. It includes all the logs, though. I can search the specific app I'm interested in and look at that output. To find the latest, I first go at the end of the file then search backward:

    1. Hit G to go to the end (it's a capital G)

    2. Hit ? and enter your apps name

    It's not as practical, but on the device on which I work (a Jetson), that was pretty much the only way I found to make it work.

    • 2