From: Grant Slater <github@firefishy.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2026 21:15:05 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: Remove rsyslog as functionality replaced by systemd-journald
X-Git-Url: https://git.openstreetmap.org/chef.git/commitdiff_plain

Remove rsyslog as functionality replaced by systemd-journald

systemd is the standard for logging in Debian 12+
rsyslog is not installed by default in Debian 12+
Ubuntu+ 20.04 "minimal" server install does not install rsyslog

Kernel logs: journalctl -k
"syslog" logs: journalctl _TRANSPORT=syslog
---

diff --git a/cookbooks/tools/recipes/default.rb b/cookbooks/tools/recipes/default.rb
index c35a0129f..29fef95ed 100644
--- a/cookbooks/tools/recipes/default.rb
+++ b/cookbooks/tools/recipes/default.rb
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ package %w[
   pciutils
   ripgrep
   rsync
-  rsyslog
   screen
   smartmontools
   strace
@@ -52,9 +51,9 @@ if platform?("debian")
   package "wtmpdb"
 end
 
-service "rsyslog" do
-  action [:enable, :start]
-  supports :status => true, :restart => true, :reload => true
+# rsyslog functionality replaced by systemd-journald, avoid log duplication
+package "rsyslog" do
+  action :purge
 end
 
 # Install some common tools