Understanding the pros and cons of journald

In contrast to rsyslog, journald stores its log files in binary format. This allows us to store more data in a smaller amount of disk space, which reduces the need to constantly rotate the log files. Reducing the need for rotation allows us to keep log files for the long term, without having to worry about moving them elsewhere.

Using binary files also gives us an extra bit of security. It's harder for an attacker to alter binary files, and there's also a way to see if the files have been altered.

The journalctl utility comes with built-in filtering and viewing functions. We can even view the log information in JSON format, which makes it easier to export log data into other log-parsing programs.

Yet another cool thing about journald is that it stores system log files and user log files separately. Each user has his or her own set of log files. A user with administrative privileges can view files for the system and all...