VIRTLOGD(8)

📦
version 12.8.0 · 13 versions
, in centos-stream 10

🎀 VIRTLOGD(8) — the libvirt log management daemon, explained by your fave ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to the virtlogd page 💖 this is the page for virtlogd, and honestly it's one of those quiet backstage queens that keeps everything from falling apart. let's get into it.

🌸 NAME

virtlogd — the libvirt log management daemon. yes. she manages logs. she's the libvirt log management daemon. periodt 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS

virtlogd [OPTION]...

that's it. that's the whole vibe. drop it in a terminal with whatever options you want 🫶

🦋 DESCRIPTION

so the virtlogd program is a server side daemon component of the libvirt virtualization management system, and her whole job is managing logs from virtual machine consoles. iconic frankly 👑

real talk though: this daemon is not used directly by libvirt client applications. like, she doesn't take walk-ins. instead, it's called on their behalf by libvirtd. it's giving personal assistant energy honestly.

and here's why that slaps: by keeping the logs in a standalone daemon, the main libvirtd daemon can be restarted without risk of losing logs 😭 like... no lost receipts, no lost lore. and the virtlogd daemon has the ability to re-exec() itself upon receiving SIGUSR1, so you get live upgrades without downtime bestie, no cap 🔥

also the virtlogd daemon listens for requests on a local Unix domain socket. that's her whole address ok.

💜 OPTIONS

  • -h, --help — display command line help usage, then exit. she tells you how she works and dips 🎀
  • -d, --daemon — run as a daemon and write PID file. main character mode, but running in the background 💅
  • -f, --config FILE — use this configuration file, overriding the default value. your config, your rules ✨
  • -t, --timeout SECONDS — automatically shutdown after SECONDS have elapsed with no active console log. she's not gonna sit around waiting forever, bestie, she has a life 🌸
  • -p, --pid-file FILE — use this name for the PID file, overriding the default value 🦋
  • -v, --verbose — enable output of verbose messages. she will literally tell you everything 🗣️
  • -V, --version — display version information, then exit ⭐

⚡ SIGNALS

on receipt of SIGUSR1, virtlogd will re-exec() its binary, while maintaining all current logs and clients. this is the live-upgrade cheat code — you can upgrade the virtlogd service without losing anything, which is honestly so demure of her 🙈

🍓 FILES

okay bestie this part is important, it depends on who you're running as:

👑 When run as root

  • /etc/libvirt/virtlogd.conf

the default configuration file used by virtlogd, unless overridden on the command line using the -f | --config option.

  • /run/libvirt/virtlogd-sock

the sockets virtlogd will use.

  • /run/virtlogd.pid

the PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p | --pid-file option.

🧚 When run as non-root

  • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/libvirt/virtlogd.conf

the default configuration file used by virtlogd, unless overridden on the command line using the -f | --config option.

  • $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/virtlogd-sock

the socket virtlogd will use.

  • $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/virtlogd.pid

the PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p | --pid-file option.

and if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set in your environment, virtlogd will use $HOME/.config 🌈

and if $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set in your environment, virtlogd will use $HOME/.cache 💖

(no env var? no problem. she'll find her home, she always does.)

🌟 EXAMPLES

to retrieve the version of virtlogd:

# virtlogd --version
virtlogd (libvirt) 12.8.0

to start virtlogd, instructing it to daemonize and create a PID file:

# virtlogd -d
# ls -la /run/virtlogd.pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6 Jul  9 02:40 /run/virtlogd.pid

look at that PID file existing. slay. the daemon is daemonizing, we love to see it 😭💅

💀 BUGS

please report all bugs you discover. and bestie, you should — don't just suffer in silence. this should be done via either:

  1. the mailing list

https://libvirt.org/contact.html

  1. the bug tracker

https://libvirt.org/bugs.html

alternatively, you may report bugs to your software distributor / vendor. we support going through the proper channels in this house 🫶

🎀 AUTHORS

please refer to the AUTHORS file distributed with libvirt. (the whole squad is credited in there ✨)

Copyright (C) 2006-2015 Red Hat, Inc., and the authors listed in the libvirt AUTHORS file.

🌈 LICENSE

virtlogd is distributed under the terms of the GNU LGPL v2.1+. this is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. read that again, bestie — no warranty, she said what she said 💀

👑 SEE ALSO

libvirtd(8), https://libvirt.org/

and that's the whole page, my love 🌸 this was VIRTLOGD(8) from Virtualization Support, version 12.8.0 vibes — stay logged, stay iconic, and remember: the logs were safe the whole time 💖🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from