rsyslog still includes /etc/default/rsyslog, which isn't used

I agree, just wasted quite a bit of time editing /etc/default/rsyslog, restarting only to find that the changes had no effect. If the file cannot be deleted then a warning should be placed in there for the Upstart ignoramuses out there (such as myself up until a few minutes ago).

On the upside however I've now gotten stuck into http://upstart.ubuntu.com/getting-started.html

This bug was fixed in the package rsyslog - 4.6.4-2ubuntu2

---------------
rsyslog (4.6.4-2ubuntu2) natty; urgency=low

  * Remove debian/rsyslog.default as the upstart init script doesn't read
    /etc/default/rsyslog (LP: #570103)
 -- Stephane Graber <email address hidden> Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:47:32 -0500

Apparently Launchpad didn't notice the second upload.
Instead of removing /etc/default/rsyslog the init script has now been updated to use /etc/default/rsyslog.

This one should probably be backported to at least Lucid.

--------------------

rsyslog (4.6.4-2ubuntu3) natty; urgency=low

  * Instead of removing /etc/default/rsyslog, patch the upstart job to
    parse it as the old init script used to (LP: #570103)

Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:56:18 -0500
Changed-By: Stéphane Graber <stgraber at ubuntu.com>
Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com>
Signed-By: Stéphane Graber <stgraber at stgraber.org>

SRU for lucid (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates)

1. Impact :
Changes in /etc/default/rsyslog aren't honored by the upstart job.

2. Fix in development version :
The fix is a simple modification in the upstart job to source the default file.
It was fixed in natty with package version 4.6.4-2ubuntu3

3. Patch :
See bzr branch : lp:~mjeanson/ubuntu/lucid/rsyslog/bug570103

TEST CASE:
* Add options to RSYSLOGD_OPTIONS in /etc/default/rsyslog
* Restart rsyslog and verify that the options were not applied

5. Regression potential
If a user has invalid informations in /etc/default/rsyslog, it was previously ignored and will now be sourced.

Uploaded to lucid-proposed currently waiting for approval.

Accepted rsyslog into lucid-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

It works for me, now the /etc/default/rsyslog is used to run the deamon.

Thanks:)

I just confirmed that it worked for me too.

Thanks

It works fantastically well, and solve all my rsyslog issues, thank you so much for the awesome work !

This bug was fixed in the package rsyslog - 4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1

---------------
rsyslog (4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1) lucid-proposed; urgency=low

  * debian/rsyslog.upstart:
    - Patch the upstart job to source /etc/default/rsyslog as the old init
      script used to. (LP: #570103)
 -- Michael Jeanson <email address hidden> Wed, 08 Dec 2010 13:46:31 -0500

Somehow this does not work for me on Lucid LTS. I do have rsyslog (4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1) installed. (In the Synaptics sources configuration editor I do have lucid proposed checked.) The upstart script '/etc/init/rsyslog.conf' runs 'exec rsyslogd -c4' as last line nevertheless without checking '/etc/default/rsyslog'. I tried re-installing rsyslog (4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1) to no avail. What else must I do to get this fix working?
Cheers!

@sm8ps

Here is the /etc/init/rsyslog.conf as shipped in rsyslog 4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1 :

# rsyslog - system logging daemon
#
# rsyslog is an enhanced multi-threaded replacement for the traditional
# syslog daemon, logging messages from applications

description "system logging daemon"

start on filesystem
stop on runlevel [06]

expect fork
respawn

script
    . /etc/default/rsyslog
    exec rsyslogd $RSYSLOGD_OPTIONS
end script

Excerpts from sm8ps's message of Thu Jun 09 16:40:43 UTC 2011:
> Somehow this does not work for me on Lucid LTS. I do have rsyslog (4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1) installed. (In the Synaptics sources configuration editor I do have lucid proposed checked.) The upstart script '/etc/init/rsyslog.conf' runs 'exec rsyslogd -c4' as last line nevertheless without checking '/etc/default/rsyslog'. I tried re-installing rsyslog (4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1) to no avail. What else must I do to get this fix working?
> Cheers!
>

Hi sm8ps.

Are you certain that you have the updated /etc/init/rsyslog.conf ? Since it is a conffile,
dpkg may have kept a modified version and not installed the new one.

It should include the changes shown here:

http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-branches/ubuntu/lucid/rsyslog/lucid-proposed/revision/28

Note the 'script' section added to debian/rsyslog.upstart

Excerpts from Simon Déziel's message of Thu Jun 09 16:57:33 UTC 2011:
> @sm8ps
>
> Here is the /etc/init/rsyslog.conf as shipped in rsyslog
> 4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1 :
>
> # rsyslog - system logging daemon
> #
> # rsyslog is an enhanced multi-threaded replacement for the traditional
> # syslog daemon, logging messages from applications
>
> description "system logging daemon"
>
> start on filesystem
> stop on runlevel [06]
>
> expect fork
> respawn
>
> script
> . /etc/default/rsyslog
> exec rsyslogd $RSYSLOGD_OPTIONS
> end script

Can you also paste your /etc/default/rsyslog ?

Thanks!

Thanks for your answers, Simon and Clint! Obviously, '/etc/init/rsyslog.conf' has not been updated as it is missing the 'script'-section. I had a fresh install of Lucid and turned on backports after installation which was several weeks ago. From the 'dpkg'-log I see that 'syslogd' was upgraded to version 4.2.0-2ubuntu8.1. I had not modified anything in either configuration or upstart file until today when I had to turn remote logging on.
So it seems that the upgrade did not change '/etc/init/rsyslog.conf' as it should have from my point of view. The fix is easy, of course. I shall simply add the 'script'-section. Maybe this information can provide useful to somebody else in the same situation. However, I think that 'dpkg' should handle the upgrade in a different way.
Cheers!
St. Mueller, Switzerland

Oh no, I just had my that "Oh no!"-moment of today! Please ignore all my above postings because I had got mixed up between my local machine and the remote server. So I considered the wrong machine. I am terribly sorry for that! (Damn virtual server zoo!)
Thanks for your consideration nevertheless!
St. Müller, Switzerland

@Clint

/etc/default/rsyslog :
# Options for rsyslogd
# -m 0 disables 'MARK' messages (deprecated, only used in compat mode < 3)
# -r enables logging from remote machines (deprecated, only used in compat mode < 3)
# -x disables DNS lookups on messages received with -r
# -c compatibility mode
# See rsyslogd(8) for more details
RSYSLOGD_OPTIONS="-c2 -r"

# ps aux| grep rsyslogd
syslog 3297 0.0 0.0 138180 1484 ? Sl 17:27 0:00 rsyslogd -c2 -r

But I can't see the socket.

So the default file is effectively sourced but rsyslogd does not listen on UDP 514 even when RSYSLOGD_OPTIONS="-c2 -r".

To bind it to that port I had to uncomment the following in /etc/rsyslogd.conf :

$ModLoad imudp
$UDPServerRun 514

And I left the default option RSYSLOGD_OPTIONS="-c4".

man 8 rsyslogd does not reference "-r" so that might explain it. When using other options like RSYSLOGD_OPTIONS="-c4 -4" to bind on IPv4 only all works as documented.