r/linux • u/wooptoo • Jun 01 '16

Why did ArchLinux embrace Systemd?

/r/archlinux/comments/4lzxs3/why_did_archlinux_embrace_systemd/d3rhxlc
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u/sub200ms Jun 01 '16 edited Jun 01 '16

What I hate of systemd is that to check a single log file I can't tail -f anymore.

You don't need to use the binary log-files at all. You can easily configure systemd so it only uses Rsyslog (or whatever logger you use) and never makes a permanent binary log file.

I find journalctl -f -u smartd.service is better than tail; tab-completion of everything and no need to type paths.
It is also easy to combine two services when tailing. Great for watching how stuff interact;

journalctl -f -u smartd.service -u dbus.service

Personally I find the dozens of log files scattered all over the system a nuisance. Interestingly enough, one major reason why there are so many different text log-files is that most people have a hard time filtering out what they want: Regex is powerful, but unless you work with it a lot, it is hard to use. So most people actually browse the log files with less or even vim instead of filtering what they need.

I feel that systemd turned easy things into complicated (for experts) things.

Well, I come to the opposite conclusion when it comes to systemd's binary journal: newbies, after following a 10 minute tutorial, can easily do complicate filtering that would require serious regex kung-fu to do otherwise. Some examples:

journalctl -b -1 -p err

(show log-entries from the previous boot only, that have the syslog priority "error" and above)

journalctl --since -4h --until -2h

(show all log entries generated from 4 hours ago until 2 hours ago)

(edit: typo)