Make systemd debug shell usable again

debuggingsystemd

Specifying systemd.debug-shell=1 as kernel parameter kind of works: I can switch via Alt+F9 to a shell when systemd boot hangs.

But this shell is quite impossible because an animated

[ ***  ] A start job is running for Create Volatile Files and 
        Directories (4min 23s / no limit)

banner is destroying my prompt and command line output.

Thus, my question: how do I disable this obstructing systemd output in my shell tty9?

I'm ok with it being displayed in tty1, i.e. the main console – but as-is, it makes the systemd debug shell unusable.

This is the systemd under Fedora 29.

Best Answer

One way is to also set systemd.show_status as kernel parameter. For example, in total:

systemd.debug-shell=1 systemd.show_status=false

This makes the systemd debug shell usable again.

However, it kills all systemd boot console output, not just obstructing animations. Perhaps there is a better way - say - tell systemd somehow to just print to a certain tty.

The hanging jobs can be displayed via:

# systemctl list-jobs | grep running
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