How to get access to log content displayed at bootup.

theAdmiral · 07-30-2015, 10:03 PM

Upon boot I am seeing log content flash on my screen, and my eye catches a note stating that /etc/rc.local fails. There is a message tagged with it and pertaining to it, that for further info I should check such and such. But, it leaves so quickly I cannot gather what it reads. I have looked in /var/log/bootstrap.log and in /var/log/faillog. Gedit, given enough time, was able to open both of them, and neither of them contain anything useful.

Is there a file that the screen-displayed bootup content get stored to so that I can read the failure message and begin to troubleshoot?

Thanks in advance for your help.

frankbell · 07-30-2015, 10:25 PM

Traditionally, it would be in /var/log/dmesg. You could also try running dmesg from the command line (you might have to do this as root). This might work:

Code:

# dmesg | grep rc.local

I assume that SystemD stores it somewhere. I have not had to deal with SystemD (praise Bob!), but this tutorial might help.

replica9000 · 07-31-2015, 03:34 AM

Install bootlogd, then after the next boot, look at /var/log/boot.

theAdmiral · 07-31-2015, 07:46 PM

My apologies, Gentlemen, but just to offer some quick feedback, installation of bootlogd, etc., etc., did not work. I rebooted then looked at /var/log/boot and there was no log entry. Trying to find the error message in dmesg did not work either. But, I have scanned the tutorial page recommended by frankbell, and from what I saw there is a possibility that that tutorial addresses my concern, so I am going to start on a thorough read of it directly. Thank you for the suggestions, every one of them, and I will post my findings as appropriate.

Thanks again.

theAdmiral · 07-31-2015, 08:09 PM

That linked tutorial was written for Linux users who had significant time since their last install. My install has only been running for a week or two, therefore there were no logs/entries to peruse. So, back at square 1.

frankbell · 07-31-2015, 09:15 PM

I was thinking last night after I closed of LQ that, if you do have /var/log populated with text log files, another place to look would be in /var/log/messages.

By the way, what are the contents of you rc.local file? I think in Debian it's at /etc/rc.local. If it's empty, the message could just mean that "I looked in rc.local, there was nothing there, so I didn't do anything." There shouldn't be anything there unless you put it there--it's for users to add commands to run on boot after the regular init process is complete.

kiyop · 08-01-2015, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theAdmiral

Upon boot I am seeing log content flash on my screen, and my eye catches a note stating that /etc/rc.local fails. There is a message tagged with it and pertaining to it, that for further info I should check such and such. But, it leaves so quickly I cannot gather what it reads.

You may be able to stop and restart output by pressing CTRL+q and CTRL+s.

Head_on_a_Stick · 08-01-2015, 07:11 AM

Edit the file at /etc/systemd/journald.conf (as root!) and change the "#Storage=auto" line to:

Code:

Storage=persistent

Then add your user to the "systemd-journal" group:

Code:

# gpasswd -a <user name> systemd-journal
# newgrp systemd-journal

You can then read the boot logs with:

Code:

journalctl -b

See journalctl() for more on this.

Also: https://www.digitalocean.com/communi...e-systemd-logs

https://wiki.debian.org/bootlogd

theAdmiral · 08-04-2015, 06:02 PM

@Head_on_a_Stick: Your concise instructions were sufficient for generating a listing of log entries for my most recent boot, as I restarted after I implemented your instructions. However, when I run

Code:

$ journalctl -b

and

Code:

$ journalctl -b | grep ailed

what I see is a boot log where I cannot find anything about `rc.local'. I must infer that the output on the screen during boot is not the same as the contents of the boot log I read when I run `journalctl -b'. Although, I do greatly appreciate your instructions, for they could easily provide a favorable utility in the future.

@frankbell:

The contents of my rc.local file are (to make it easy) the following:

Code:

john@debian:~$ cat /etc/rc.local
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

# Numlock enable
[ -x /usr/bin/numlockx ] && numlockx on

exit 0
john@debian:~$

Before I began troubleshooting why my numlock would turn off at screen lock, and at reboot, and remain off until I pressed the "Num Lock" key, there was no entry in this file for "Numlock enable", to my recollection. If there was, it was commented out, and if there was, all that was there was just a comment for "Numlock enable". There was no entry underneath "# Numlock enable" until I put it there a week or two ago. I put it there because I read in more than one WWW location that if I did this, my numlock would turn on during boot, and persist during system run, and I would reduce my always having to press the "Num Lock" key whenever I wanted to use the 10-key pad. Now that this entry is in /etc/rc.local, my Num Lock stays on during screen lock, but turns off when rebooting. So, the problem is not as bad as it was before. Although I would still like to know how to keep Num Lock on all the time when I press the key for it to be on, and I would like Num Lock to turn off only when I press the key to turn it off. I don't understand why the maintainer/developer had to make this change from Wheezy to Jessie, although it may be Gnome thing. Who knows? What I know is that said change can sometimes be irritating.

So, there you have it---the shpiel, as it were.

Thank you for your interest in and your assistance on this topic. Ideas and suggestions on this issue are still welcome, as I am leaving it unsolved for now.