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Permanently limit the size of the systemd journal

caution rootsystemddebian, ubuntu

Caution: This command changes the system. Understand what it does before you run it.

Adjust the values, the command updates live
root@server
mkdir -p /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d && printf '[Journal]\nSystemMaxUse=500M\n' > /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/size.conf && systemctl restart systemd-journald

Writes the SystemMaxUse setting to a separate file under /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/, which survives package updates, and restarts journald. From then on, journald deletes the oldest archives on its own once the limit is reached. An existing size.conf is overwritten.

Note: Check the result with journalctl --disk-usage. journald removes archives above the new limit at the latest during the next rotation.

Also searched as

  • limit journal size
  • set systemmaxuse
  • permanently restrict journald disk usage
  • stop journal from growing

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Calculate the total size of all files of one type

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