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01cf0ca8 1<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
3a54a157 2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
12b42c76 3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
db9ecf05 4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
01cf0ca8 5
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6<refentry id="systemd-journald.service"
7 xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
01cf0ca8 8
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9 <refentryinfo>
10 <title>systemd-journald.service</title>
11 <productname>systemd</productname>
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12 </refentryinfo>
13
14 <refmeta>
15 <refentrytitle>systemd-journald.service</refentrytitle>
16 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
17 </refmeta>
18
19 <refnamediv>
20 <refname>systemd-journald.service</refname>
21 <refname>systemd-journald.socket</refname>
22 <refname>systemd-journald-dev-log.socket</refname>
37b7affe 23 <refname>systemd-journald-audit.socket</refname>
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24 <refname>systemd-journald@.service</refname>
25 <refname>systemd-journald@.socket</refname>
26 <refname>systemd-journald-varlink@.socket</refname>
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27 <refname>systemd-journald</refname>
28 <refpurpose>Journal service</refpurpose>
29 </refnamediv>
30
31 <refsynopsisdiv>
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32 <para><simplelist>
33 <member><filename>systemd-journald.service</filename></member>
34 <member><filename>systemd-journald.socket</filename></member>
35 <member><filename>systemd-journald-dev-log.socket</filename></member>
36 <member><filename>systemd-journald-audit.socket</filename></member>
37 <member><filename>systemd-journald@.service</filename></member>
38 <member><filename>systemd-journald@.socket</filename></member>
39 <member><filename>systemd-journald-varlink@.socket</filename></member>
40 <member><filename>/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald</filename></member>
41 </simplelist></para>
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42 </refsynopsisdiv>
43
44 <refsect1>
45 <title>Description</title>
46
47 <para><filename>systemd-journald</filename> is a system service
48 that collects and stores logging data. It creates and maintains
49 structured, indexed journals based on logging information that is
50 received from a variety of sources:</para>
51
52 <itemizedlist>
53 <listitem><para>Kernel log messages, via kmsg</para></listitem>
54
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55 <listitem><para>Simple system log messages, via the <filename>libc</filename> <citerefentry
56 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>syslog</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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57 call</para></listitem>
58
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59 <listitem><para>Structured system log messages via the native Journal API, see
60 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_journal_print</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
61 and <ulink url="https://systemd.io/JOURNAL_NATIVE_PROTOCOL">Native Journal
62 Protocol</ulink></para></listitem>
798d3a52 63
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64 <listitem><para>Standard output and standard error of service units. For further details see
65 below.</para></listitem>
798d3a52 66
157148d6 67 <listitem><para>Audit records, originating from the kernel audit subsystem</para></listitem>
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68 </itemizedlist>
69
70 <para>The daemon will implicitly collect numerous metadata fields
71 for each log messages in a secure and unfakeable way. See
72 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.journal-fields</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
73 for more information about the collected metadata.
74 </para>
75
fc5f5706 76 <para>Log data collected by the journal is primarily text-based but can also include binary data where
a2968e83 77 necessary. Individual fields making up a log record stored in the journal may be up to 2⁶⁴-1 bytes in size.</para>
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78
79 <para>The journal service stores log data either persistently below <filename>/var/log/journal</filename> or in a
80 volatile way below <filename>/run/log/journal/</filename> (in the latter case it is lost at reboot). By default, log
81 data is stored persistently if <filename>/var/log/journal/</filename> exists during boot, with an implicit fallback
82 to volatile storage otherwise. Use <varname>Storage=</varname> in
83 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> to configure
84 where log data is placed, independently of the existence of <filename>/var/log/journal/</filename>.</para>
85
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86 <para>Note that journald will initially use volatile storage, until a call to
87 <command>journalctl --flush</command> (or sending <constant>SIGUSR1</constant> to journald) will cause
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88 it to switch to persistent logging (under the conditions mentioned above). This is done automatically
89 on boot via <literal>systemd-journal-flush.service</literal>.</para>
90
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91 <para>On systems where <filename>/var/log/journal/</filename> does not exist yet but where persistent logging is
92 desired (and the default <filename>journald.conf</filename> is used), it is sufficient to create the directory, and
93 ensure it has the correct access modes and ownership:</para>
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94
95 <programlisting>mkdir -p /var/log/journal
96systemd-tmpfiles --create --prefix /var/log/journal</programlisting>
798d3a52 97
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98 <para>See
99 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
100 for information about the configuration of this service.</para>
101 </refsect1>
102
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103 <refsect1>
104 <title>Stream logging</title>
105
106 <para>The systemd service manager invokes all service processes with standard output and standard error connected
107 to the journal by default. This behaviour may be altered via the
108 <varname>StandardOutput=</varname>/<varname>StandardError=</varname> unit file settings, see
109 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details. The
110 journal converts the log byte stream received this way into individual log records, splitting the stream at newline
111 (<literal>\n</literal>, ASCII <constant>10</constant>) and <constant>NUL</constant> bytes.</para>
112
113 <para>If <filename>systemd-journald.service</filename> is stopped, the stream connections associated with all
114 services are terminated. Further writes to those streams by the service will result in <constant>EPIPE</constant>
115 errors. In order to react gracefully in this case it is recommended that programs logging to standard output/error
dcfaecc7 116 ignore such errors. If the <constant>SIGPIPE</constant> UNIX signal handler is not blocked or turned off, such
157148d6 117 write attempts will also result in such process signals being generated, see
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118 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>signal</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
119 To mitigate this issue, systemd service manager explicitly turns off the <constant>SIGPIPE</constant>
120 signal for all invoked processes by default (this may be changed for each unit individually via the
121 <varname>IgnoreSIGPIPE=</varname> option, see
157148d6 122 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
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123 details). After the standard output/standard error streams have been terminated they may not be recovered
124 until the services they are associated with are restarted. Note that during normal operation,
125 <filename>systemd-journald.service</filename> stores copies of the file descriptors for those streams in
126 the service manager. If <filename>systemd-journald.service</filename> is restarted using
127 <command>systemctl restart</command> or equivalent operation instead of a pair of separate
128 <command>systemctl stop</command> and <command>systemctl start</command> commands (or equivalent
129 operations), these stream connections are not terminated and survive the restart. It is thus safe to
130 restart <filename>systemd-journald.service</filename>, but stopping it is not recommended.</para>
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131
132 <para>Note that the log record metadata for records transferred via such standard output/error streams reflect the
133 metadata of the peer the stream was originally created for. If the stream connection is passed on to other
134 processes (such as further child processes forked off the main service process), the log records will not reflect
135 their metadata, but will continue to describe the original process. This is different from the other logging
136 transports listed above, which are inherently record based and where the metadata is always associated with the
137 individual record.</para>
138
dcfaecc7 139 <para>In addition to the implicit standard output/error logging of services, stream logging is also available
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140 via the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-cat</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> command
141 line tool.</para>
142
ec20fe5f 143 <para>Currently, the number of parallel log streams <filename>systemd-journald</filename> will accept is limited to
dcfaecc7 144 4096. When this limit is reached further log streams may be established but will receive
ec20fe5f 145 <constant>EPIPE</constant> right from the beginning.</para>
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146 </refsect1>
147
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148 <refsect1>
149 <title>Journal Namespaces</title>
150
151 <para>Journal 'namespaces' are both a mechanism for logically isolating the log stream of projects
152 consisting of one or more services from the rest of the system and a mechanism for improving
153 performance. Multiple journal namespaces may exist simultaneously, each defining its own, independent log
154 stream managed by its own instance of <command>systemd-journald</command>. Namespaces are independent of
155 each other, both in the data store and in the IPC interface. By default only a single 'default' namespace
156 exists, managed by <filename>systemd-journald.service</filename> (and its associated socket
157 units). Additional namespaces are created by starting an instance of the
158 <filename>systemd-journald@.service</filename> service template. The instance name is the namespace
159 identifier, which is a short string used for referencing the journal namespace. Service units may be
160 assigned to a specific journal namespace through the <varname>LogNamespace=</varname> unit file setting,
161 see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
162 details. The <option>--namespace=</option> switch of
163 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> may be
164 used to view the log stream of a specific namespace. If the switch is not used the log stream of the
165 default namespace is shown, i.e. log data from other namespaces is not visible.</para>
166
167 <para>Services associated with a specific log namespace may log via syslog, the native logging protocol
168 of the journal and via stdout/stderr; the logging from all three transports is associated with the
169 namespace.</para>
170
171 <para>By default only the default namespace will collect kernel and audit log messages.</para>
172
173 <para>The <command>systemd-journald</command> instance of the default namespace is configured through
174 <filename>/etc/systemd/journald.conf</filename> (see below), while the other instances are configured
175 through <filename>/etc/systemd/journald@<replaceable>NAMESPACE</replaceable>.conf</filename>. The journal
176 log data for the default namespace is placed in
177 <filename>/var/log/journal/<replaceable>MACHINE_ID</replaceable></filename> (see below) while the data
178 for the other namespaces is located in
179 <filename>/var/log/journal/<replaceable>MACHINE_ID</replaceable>.<replaceable>NAMESPACE</replaceable></filename>.</para>
180 </refsect1>
181
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182 <refsect1>
183 <title>Signals</title>
184
185 <variablelist>
186 <varlistentry>
187 <term>SIGUSR1</term>
188
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189 <listitem><para>Request that journal data from <filename>/run/</filename> is flushed to
190 <filename>/var/</filename> in order to make it persistent (if this is enabled). This must be used
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191 after <filename>/var/</filename> is mounted, as otherwise log data from <filename>/run/</filename> is
192 never flushed to <filename>/var/</filename> regardless of the configuration. Use the
870a2d85 193 <command>journalctl --flush</command> command to request flushing of the journal files, and wait for
94b65516 194 the operation to complete. See
870a2d85 195 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
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196 details.</para>
197
198 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v186"/></listitem>
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199 </varlistentry>
200
201 <varlistentry>
202 <term>SIGUSR2</term>
203
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204 <listitem><para>Request immediate rotation of the journal files. Use the <command>journalctl
205 --rotate</command> command to request journal file rotation, and wait for the operation to
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206 complete.</para>
207
208 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v186"/></listitem>
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209 </varlistentry>
210
211 <varlistentry>
212 <term>SIGRTMIN+1</term>
213
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214 <listitem><para>Request that all unwritten log data is written to disk. Use the <command>journalctl
215 --sync</command> command to trigger journal synchronization, and wait for the operation to
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216 complete.</para>
217
218 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v228"/></listitem>
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219 </varlistentry>
220 </variablelist>
221 </refsect1>
222
223 <refsect1>
224 <title>Kernel Command Line</title>
225
226 <para>A few configuration parameters from
227 <filename>journald.conf</filename> may be overridden on the kernel
228 command line:</para>
229
230 <variablelist class='kernel-commandline-options'>
231 <varlistentry>
232 <term><varname>systemd.journald.forward_to_syslog=</varname></term>
233 <term><varname>systemd.journald.forward_to_kmsg=</varname></term>
234 <term><varname>systemd.journald.forward_to_console=</varname></term>
235 <term><varname>systemd.journald.forward_to_wall=</varname></term>
236
237 <listitem><para>Enables/disables forwarding of collected log
238 messages to syslog, the kernel log buffer, the system console
239 or wall.
240 </para>
241
242 <para>See
243 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
244 for information about these settings.</para>
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245
246 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v186"/>
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247 </listitem>
248
249 </varlistentry>
250 </variablelist>
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251
252 <para>Note that these kernel command line options are only honoured by the default namespace, see
253 above.</para>
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254 </refsect1>
255
256 <refsect1>
257 <title>Access Control</title>
258
259 <para>Journal files are, by default, owned and readable by the
260 <literal>systemd-journal</literal> system group but are not
f16eb8b0 261 writable. Adding a user to this group thus enables them to read
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262 the journal files.</para>
263
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264 <para>By default, each user, with a UID outside the range of system users,
265 dynamic service users, and the nobody user, will get their own set of
266 journal files in <filename>/var/log/journal/</filename>. See
267 <ulink url="https://systemd.io/UIDS-GIDS">Users, Groups, UIDs and GIDs on systemd systems</ulink>
268 for more details about UID ranges. These journal
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269 files will not be owned by the user, however, in order to avoid
270 that the user can write to them directly. Instead, file system
271 ACLs are used to ensure the user gets read access only.</para>
272
273 <para>Additional users and groups may be granted access to journal
274 files via file system access control lists (ACL). Distributions
275 and administrators may choose to grant read access to all members
276 of the <literal>wheel</literal> and <literal>adm</literal> system
277 groups with a command such as the following:</para>
278
279 <programlisting># setfacl -Rnm g:wheel:rx,d:g:wheel:rx,g:adm:rx,d:g:adm:rx /var/log/journal/</programlisting>
280
281 <para>Note that this command will update the ACLs both for
282 existing journal files and for future journal files created in the
283 <filename>/var/log/journal/</filename> directory.</para>
284 </refsect1>
285
286 <refsect1>
287 <title>Files</title>
288
289 <variablelist>
290 <varlistentry>
12b42c76 291 <term><filename>/etc/systemd/journald.conf</filename></term>
798d3a52 292
4bb890bc 293 <listitem><para>Configure <command>systemd-journald</command> behavior. See
798d3a52 294 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
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295 </para>
296
297 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v206"/></listitem>
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298 </varlistentry>
299
300 <varlistentry>
301 <term><filename>/run/log/journal/<replaceable>machine-id</replaceable>/*.journal</filename></term>
302 <term><filename>/run/log/journal/<replaceable>machine-id</replaceable>/*.journal~</filename></term>
303 <term><filename>/var/log/journal/<replaceable>machine-id</replaceable>/*.journal</filename></term>
304 <term><filename>/var/log/journal/<replaceable>machine-id</replaceable>/*.journal~</filename></term>
305
4bb890bc 306 <listitem><para><command>systemd-journald</command> writes entries to files in
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307 <filename>/run/log/journal/<replaceable>machine-id</replaceable>/</filename>
308 or
309 <filename>/var/log/journal/<replaceable>machine-id</replaceable>/</filename>
310 with the <literal>.journal</literal> suffix. If the daemon is
311 stopped uncleanly, or if the files are found to be corrupted,
312 they are renamed using the <literal>.journal~</literal>
313 suffix, and <command>systemd-journald</command> starts writing
3b121157 314 to a new file. <filename>/run/</filename> is used when
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315 <filename>/var/log/journal</filename> is not available, or
316 when <option>Storage=volatile</option> is set in the
317 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
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318 configuration file.</para>
319
320 <para>When <filename>systemd-journald</filename> ceases writing to a journal file,
321 it will be renamed to <literal><replaceable>original-name</replaceable>@<replaceable>suffix.journal</replaceable></literal>
322 (or <literal><replaceable>original-name</replaceable>@<replaceable>suffix.journal~</replaceable></literal>).
323 Such files are "archived" and will not be written to any more.</para>
324
325 <para>In general, it is safe to read or copy any journal file (active or archived).
326 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
327 and the functions in the
328 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd-journal</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
329 library should be able to read all entries that have been fully written.</para>
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330
331 <para><filename>systemd-journald</filename> will automatically remove the oldest
332 archived journal files to limit disk use. See <varname>SystemMaxUse=</varname>
333 and related settings in
334 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
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335 </para>
336
337 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v206"/></listitem>
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338 </varlistentry>
339
340 <varlistentry>
341 <term><filename>/dev/kmsg</filename></term>
342 <term><filename>/dev/log</filename></term>
343 <term><filename>/run/systemd/journal/dev-log</filename></term>
344 <term><filename>/run/systemd/journal/socket</filename></term>
345 <term><filename>/run/systemd/journal/stdout</filename></term>
346
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347 <listitem><para>Sockets and other file node paths that <command>systemd-journald</command> will
348 listen on and are visible in the file system. In addition to these,
349 <command>systemd-journald</command> can listen for audit events using <citerefentry
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350 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>netlink</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
351 depending on whether <literal>systemd-journald-audit.socket</literal> is enabled or
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352 not.</para>
353
354 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v228"/></listitem>
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355 </varlistentry>
356 </variablelist>
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357
358 <para>If journal namespacing is used these paths are slightly altered to include a namespace identifier, see above.</para>
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359 </refsect1>
360
361 <refsect1>
362 <title>See Also</title>
363 <para>
364 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
365 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journalctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
366 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>journald.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
367 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.journal-fields</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
368 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd-journal</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
369 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-coredump</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
efcbcd0d 370 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>setfacl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
01dc8e30 371 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_journal_print</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
94b65516 372 <command>pydoc systemd.journal</command>
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373 </para>
374 </refsect1>
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375
376</refentry>