journalctl --user --unit and --user-unit differ #26742
Description
systemd version the issue has been seen with
systemd 253 (253) +PAM -AUDIT -SELINUX -APPARMOR +IMA +SMACK +SECCOMP +GCRYPT -GNUTLS +OPENSSL -ACL +BLKID -CURL -ELFUTILS -FIDO2 +IDN2 -IDN -IPTC +KMOD -LIBCRYPTSETUP +LIBFDISK +PCRE2 -PWQUALITY -P11KIT -QRENCODE -TPM2 -BZIP2 +LZ4 -XZ -ZLIB +ZSTD -BPF_FRAMEWORK -XKBCOMMON +UTMP -SYSVINIT default-hierarchy=unified
Used distribution
Gentoo
Linux kernel version used
6.1.12-gentoo
CPU architectures issue was seen on
x86_64
Component
journalctl
Expected behaviour you didn't see
I have a backup script that invokes rsync using systemd-run:
systemd-run \
--user \
--collect \
--pty \
--quiet \
--wait \
--property=ExitType=cgroup \
--property=IOSchedulingClass=idle \
--slice backup \
--unit "backup" \
rsync -aPh $args $src $dst
When inspecting the journal naively, I can see the journal entries for the invocation (ignore the ctrl-C aborts):
# journalctl -b -g backup
Mar 10 12:36:07 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Created slice backup.slice.
Mar 10 12:36:07 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:37:09 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 2.408s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:37:09 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:41:00 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=23/n/a
Mar 10 12:41:00 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:41:00 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 52.683s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:41:00 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:43:25 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=23/n/a
Mar 10 12:43:25 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:43:25 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 5.110s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:44:08 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:44:08 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:47:19 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=23/n/a
Mar 10 12:47:19 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:47:19 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 46.194s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:47:19 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:47:24 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=23/n/a
Mar 10 12:47:24 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:47:24 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 1.815s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:48:32 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:48:34 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=20/n/a
Mar 10 12:48:35 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:48:35 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:48:36 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=20/n/a
Mar 10 12:48:36 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:48:36 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 1.048s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:48:36 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:48:37 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=20/n/a
Mar 10 12:48:37 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:50:38 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:50:51 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 2.360s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:50:51 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:53:27 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 56.583s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:53:27 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 13:06:42 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 4min 32.738s CPU time.
When trying to view the journal entries directly, they do not appear:
# journalctl -b --unit backup
-- No entries --
# journalctl -b --user --unit backup
No journal files were found.
-- No entries --
The desired entries only appear when using --user-unit, which the documentation appears to suggest is equivalent to --user --unit:
# journalctl -b --user-unit backup
Mar 10 12:36:07 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:37:09 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 2.408s CPU time.
Mar 10 12:37:09 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: Started backup.service.
Mar 10 12:41:00 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=23/n/a
Mar 10 12:41:00 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 10 12:41:00 wanderweg.smoddom.local systemd[709036]: backup.service: Consumed 52.683s CPU time.
etc
- It is not clear from
journalctl -b -g backupwhich are entries from the user journal vs the system journal, leaving a lot of puzzled confusion on viewing relevant journal entries, and - It appears that
--user --unitand--user-unitare different and not working as expected.
Possibly related to bug #23679
Unexpected behaviour you saw
As above.
Steps to reproduce the problem
As above.
Additional program output to the terminal or log subsystem illustrating the issue
No response