[systemd-devel] Suppressing spam error messages in the system journal

[Dave Howorth]

On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 15:27:58 +0200
Reindl Harald <h.reindl at thelounge.net> wrote:
> Am 22.10.20 um 12:59 schrieb Lennart Poettering:
> > On Do, 22.10.20 11:11, David C. Partridge
> > (david.partridge at perdrix.co.uk) wrote: 
> >>>> 	1) Is there any way in journald.conf to perform a
> >>>> message  
> >> suppression  
> >>>> similar to the one I used for syslog? If not should there be
> >>>> one?  
> >>  
> >>> No.  
> >>
> >> Does that mean no there isn't and also that there should not be,
> >> or are you open to considering allowing a suppression mechanism
> >> similar to that available in rsyslogd?  
> > 
> > Not a fan of such hacks. Fix the programs or filter during display,
> > don't suppress at time of collection.  
> 
> it's not a matter of fan or not
> 
> it just makes sense to filter out things one *never* want to see at
> all instead store it

I think Lennart's point is that whatever happened to cause something in
the system to make a log entry happened, and that should be recorded.
Even though you may never want to see such evidence somebody, somewhere
might want it as part of an investigation, so it's better that it's
captured and preserved. The space will eventually be reclaimed so
there's no harm done.

And as he suggests, if you never want to see it, then filter it out on
display.