Log output (stdout) missing when running as systemd service

[mdyring]

When running tmkms as a systemd service, nothing from stdout is logged for the service.

Not sure if I am doing anything unexpected, service file below:

[Unit]
Description=tmkms
Requires=network-online.target

[Service]
Environment="RUST_BACKTRACE=full"
ExecStart=/opt/tmkms/bin/tmkms start -c /opt/tmkms/config/tmkms.toml
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Would appreciate any pointers :-)

[tarcieri]

@mdyring thanks for opening an issue about this! It is definitely known, and I was just thinking about it earlier today, but we don't have an active tracking ticket about it, so thanks for opening one!

There is a somewhat awful workaround you can use in your systemd service unit file:

[Service]
TTYPath=/dev/ttyX

(where X is an available TTY, e.g. tty42)

This kludge will enable systemd logging with the existing logging code, which is (needlessly) dependent on a TTY.

I'm prepping another KMS release (probably tomorrow or monday) and will try to tackle this so the TTY kludge is not needed.

I am also definitely extremely interested in improving KMS logging in general, in particular moving to structured logging in some form, but that could probably use its own issue.

[mdyring]

Cool, thanks. No rush on my part for structured logging, but would be great to get this specific issue fixed. :-)

[mdyring]

After adding the TTYPath I get output like

Apr 20 23:18:27 kms2 tmkms[18624]: [138B blob data]
Apr 20 23:18:27 kms2 tmkms[18624]: [70B blob data]
Apr 20 23:18:29 kms2 tmkms[18624]: [123B blob data]

I am guessing this is due to the color sequences in the log output. If possible, it would be great to avoid these as well (or make optional via commandline flag)

[tarcieri]

Opened #237 to discuss future logging improvements including structured logging

[tarcieri]

@mdyring yeah, the colors should be gated on TTY detection (and/or an environment variable ala SYSTEMD_COLORS). The hooks are in place to both detect the TTY and allow overrides, it's just they're not being used by the logging subsystem yet.

[mdyring]

As a note to self (or other in similar situation), journalctl -a will output the "blob" data.

[guyht]

I have just run into this same issue, thanks for reporting.

[tarcieri]

I'm planning on doing another KMS release soon which will address this. Stay tuned!

[tarcieri]

Confirm this is fixed in tmkms v0.6.0-alpha2 (otherwise unannounced).

I'll try to get a v0.6.0-rc0 out you can try soon. Just be aware v0.6.0-alpha2 has not been fully tested on a live network.