IPSEC_BARF(8)

📦
version 4.15 · 4 versions
, in centos-stream 9

💅 IPSEC_BARF(8) — like, the ipsec_barf page, bestie 🫶

okay so real talk, this is a page from the Executable programs manual section, and it's literally all about ipsec_barf. grab a snack, we're doing this ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

ipsec_barf — spew out collected IPsec debugging information 💖

yes bestie, "barf" is the actual name. it's iconic, we don't question it.

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

ipsec barf [--short]

that's it. that's the whole vibe check.

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so barf outputs (on standard output, no cap) a whole collection of debugging information — contents of files, selections from logs, etc. — all related to the IPsec encryption/authentication system. it's primarily a convenience for remote debugging: one single command that packages up (and labels) literally all the information that might be relevant to diagnosing a problem in IPsec. it's giving "emergency kit but make it terminal" 🧚

the --short option limits the length of the log portion of barf's output, which can otherwise be extremely voluminous if debug logging is turned on. like, we're talking a lot of log. 😭

on systems with systemd, ipsec barf will look for logs using the journalctl command. and heads up — if the logfile= option is used, logs will also not be found by the ipsec barf command. so like, keep that in mind bestie 💀

barf censors its output, replacing keys and secrets with brief checksums, so it doesn't reveal sensitive information. privacy queen behavior, we love to see it 👑

beware! the output of both commands is aimed at humans, not programs, and the output format is subject to change without warning. so don't you dare parse it in a script, i'm serious 🙈

barf has to figure out which files in /var/log contain the IPsec log messages. here's the whole detective arc 🔍:

  • it looks for general log messages first in messages and syslog
  • and for Pluto messages first in secure, auth.log, and debug
  • in both cases, if it does not find what it's looking for in one of those "likely" places, it will resort to a brute-force search of most (non-compressed) files in /var/log. main character energy, honestly.

🦋 FILES 🦋

  • /proc/net/*
  • /var/log/*
  • /etc/ipsec.conf
  • /etc/ipsec.secrets

the whole squad, right there 🫶

🌈 HISTORY 🌈

written for the Linux FreeS/WAN project <https://www.freeswan.org> by Henry Spencer. a legend, fr fr ⭐

💀 BUGS 💀

okay so, listen:

  • barf uses heuristics to try to pick relevant material out of the logs, and relevant messages that are not labelled with any of the tags that barf looks for will be lost. we think we've eliminated the last such case, but one never knows... 🙈
  • finding updown scripts (so they can be included in output) is, in general, difficult. barf uses a very simple heuristic that is easily fooled. lowkey embarrassing but we're being honest 💅
  • the brute-force search for the right log files can get expensive on systems with a lot of clutter in /var/log. your poor little CPU, it's doing its best 😭

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Paul Wouters

  • placeholder to suppress warning

(no literally, that's what the page says. we don't make the rules 🎀)

okay that's the whole page bestie, mwah 💜 this one's from libreswan, dated 10/19/2026 — go forth and debug, you absolute icon ✨🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from