Terminal spam...

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:17 pm Post subject: Terminal spam...

OK, the AMD64 handbook was changed a while back and instead of recommending syslog-ng, it recommends sysklogd. This is fine with me as I never took advantage of the insanely advanced features of syslog-ng. However, every system I use sysklogd on is now spamming the terminals with an error about /dev/xconsole. How do I fix this? I am NOT wanting to reinstall my systems if it can be helped.
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

Presumably it isn't sending messages about pharmaceuticals or a Nigerian prince, so depending on what they actually are, you might check out /etc/syslog.conf and its use of /dev/xconsole.
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The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 6:28 pm Post subject:

I did check syslog.conf but saw nothing about xconsole, which is why I thought I'd better ask here.
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

Interesting. Maybe it is preserved from a previously instlaled syslog daemon?

This is from my AMD64 system which I installed within the last couple/few weeks or so.

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 8:20 pm Post subject:

Whoops, you are correct. I looked at /etc/conf.d/sysklogd.conf. My bad. Are you not getting an error on your terminals (1-4) which says something along the lines of "sysklogd: /dev/xconsole no such device"? After noticing it on mine I went to a server we upgraded a while back and the monitor was spammed from top to bottom with it.

All of that aside, I am not sure how to fix this. Do I change the pipe to something else? If so, what do I change it to?
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

I hadn't noticed any while working at the terminal, but that wasn't often. I'll verify in the morning.

Are the messages only "/dev/xconsole no such device"? You could try a different device (such as /dev/tty8 or tty12) instead of /dev/xconsole (if you have a similar entry as I posted previously).

Whether or not you want actual messages is a different matter. Some consider it a "Good Thing," at least for critical messages. Oc course, not everyone agrees. You can see a related discussion on that in this conversation. Somewhat ironic that a poster there "lost that feature" by switching to sysklogd.

Oh, to stop the messages entirely, I think you can simply comment out those lines at the end of the config, if you have them:

charles17 · Advocate Joined: 02 Mar 2008 Posts: 3664

v_andal · Guru Joined: 26 Aug 2008 Posts: 541 Location: Germany

Just to confirm. I've also had the same problem on 2 or 3 new installations of Gentoo that I've done recently. The /dev/xconsole is missing, so the default configuration /etc/syslog.conf causes "spam" messages on first linux console. The solution was to comment those offending lines.

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 2:54 pm Post subject:

OK, so commenting the lines removes any advanced warning of impending doom. Where does syslog-ng log this stuff by default? Can I redirect to there?

Also, upon installing sysklogd you get four spam issues, not one. Creating /var/log/news removes three of those warnings/errors and leaves only the one discussed in this thread.
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

Turns out I did have those messages, just not when I previously used the system itself. I just commented out logging to the xconsole.

What else do you ave in /etc/syslog?

For example, daemon and mail logging:

bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

I've seen this for years, I kindof ignored it. What bugs me more is the lines for /var/log/news/news.{crit|err|notice} on boot. I have to create those empty files on every install.

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2017 10:18 pm Post subject:

You should only need to create /var/log/mail as root once. I have never had that directory disappear and the mail spam has never come back. I will comment the xconsole stuff out and paste my entire configuration later. I am exhausted now. Spent the day at an antique tractor show. I do old tractors for fun. Also, I got to meet the crew from Lizard Lick Towing, if you know of the series on TV. Very cool, down to earth people. Now it is time for a nap...
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The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:39 pm Post subject:

Just to let you know, commenting those lines fixed the xconsole spam. The rest of the configuration was stock and appears to match yours, pjp. Thanks for the help!
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