# How do you check logs in Guix? **URL:** \ **Category:** Guix\ **Tags:** guix\ **Created:** [July 7, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706 "2025-07-07T22:26:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wegei8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/53a042/32.png) [@wegei8](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/wegei8)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706/1 "2025-07-07T22:26:41Z")
Is there something similar to `journalctl` in Guix? ---
**Author:** ![plattfot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@plattfot](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/plattfot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706/2 "2025-07-08T00:01:17Z")
These isn’t a `journalctl` equivalent in Guix AFAIK. But system logs lives in `/var/log` which you can view with any text editor or any of the tools from coreutils. E.g. view the last entries of a log `sudo tail /var/log/some.log` where `some.log` is the log you want to view. Which works quite well when I need to review the logs. Only thing I miss from `journalctl` is the `journalctl -b 0 -p err` to view any errors during boot. Now you need to grep for them in `dmesg` or `/var/log/messages` User logs usually lives in `~/.local/var/log`. ---
**Author:** ![wegei8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/53a042/32.png) [@wegei8](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/wegei8)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706/3 "2025-07-08T00:29:54Z")
Ah, ok. Got it. How do you know which file is `some.log`? Are apps more or less good about naming their log file something sane? Or do you just `grep` everything in `/var/log`? For example, I did a `guix install obsidian` and the install went fine. But when I try to launch the program from the desktop app launcher, nothing happens. I’m guessing it’s crashing on startup. But… uhh… where would I check the logs for that? ---
**Author:** ![wxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee59a6/32.png) [@wxie](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/wxie)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706/4 "2025-07-08T00:37:09Z")
There should be a console output for error with the log file name. Normally, you should see something contains obsidian or install in the file name. ---
**Author:** ![dgr](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/dgr/32/394_2.png) [@dgr](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/dgr)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 7:34am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706/5 "2025-07-08T07:34:01Z")
First thing I do is open it from a terminal and see, if it prints any errors. Next would be a `strace` to find out if files are missing or not accessible and if it writes to any logs, you would see this in the output. ---
**Author:** ![wegei8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/53a042/32.png) [@wegei8](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/wegei8)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 8:02am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706/6 "2025-07-08T08:02:15Z")
So I’ve discovered that: - `obsidian` in the terminal points to `/gnu/store/...obsidian-1.8.7/bin/obsidian` - The desktop entry uses `/gnu/store/...obsidian-1.8.7/obsidian` If I run the desktop entry command, `obsidian`, I get this: ```auto $ /gnu/store/h88gfrafb0qs5jfhmbsqf5p2k1ydkb2s-obsidian-1.8.7/obsidian /gnu/store/h88gfrafb0qs5jfhmbsqf5p2k1ydkb2s-obsidian-1.8.7/obsidian: error while loading shared libraries: libffmpeg.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory ``` If I run `bin/obsidian` it launches correctly. (So is there a bug in the [desktop entry file](https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix/-/blob/master/nongnu/packages/productivity.scm?ref_type=heads#L319)?) It would be nice to know where the launch failure gets logged. I tried running `strace` as was suggested. I discovered Obsidian keeps a log here. ```auto $ strace obsidian |& grep -i log openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/me/.config/obsidian/obsidian.log", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_APPEND|O_CLOEXEC, 0666) = 35 ``` But seeing as how the `obsidian` binary isn’t even starting, there are no useful logs at that location. ---
**Author:** ![dgr](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/dgr/32/394_2.png) [@dgr](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/dgr)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 8:55am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/how-do-you-check-logs-in-guix/1706/7 "2025-07-08T08:55:41Z")
> [@wegei8](#): > > It would be nice to know where the launch failure gets logged. This can only be logged by the component executing the command from the desktop entry - probably the launcher of your DE.