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Rsyslog log format change proposal

Summary

Currently Fedora uses RSYSLOG_TraditionalFileFormat as a default format for timestamps in its logs. There is missing year and timezone. This proposal aims to change this by adopting ISO 8601 and RFC 3339 compliant timestamp format known as RSYSLOG_FileFormat instead of current RSYSLOG_TraditionalFileFormat.

Owner


Current status

Detailed Description

Currently Fedora, RHEL and CentOS use RSYSLOG_TraditionalFileFormat for log’s timestamp, so timestamps in files like /var/log/messages, /var/log/cron and /var/log/secure looks like e.g.:

May 29 13:37:50 localhost systemd: Starting Fingerprint Authentication Daemon...

We are suggesting new RSYSLOG_FileFormat that looks like e.g.:

2017-05-29T13:40:50.976409+02:00 localhost systemd: Stopping System Logging Service...


This format has few disadvantages

  • Does not include year which sometimes may be needed, mostly when doing long term analysis or some investigation.
  • Does not include timezone which may be important piece when working with system scattered around the globe.
  • It is not standard format. Standards are ISO 8601 and more strict RFC 3339

I would propose to change this to defaults to standard format with timezone included.

Benefit to Fedora

Compliance to international standard, more information available in logs.

Scope

  • Proposal owners:
  • Other developers: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Policies and guidelines: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Upgrade/compatibility impact

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

How To Test

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

User Experience

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Dependencies

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Contingency Plan

  • Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change), Yes/No
  • Blocks product? product

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Release Notes