Try to disable console output, console=null doesn't work

Question

as mentioned above, I want to to completely turn off the console output, but putting console= or console=null in the kernel command line doesn't change a thing. When I enque quiet to the kernel command line it approximates this job, but I want to completely turn off the output.

So why is console=null not working, there isn't even an error message?

Do any of these work for you? http://superuser.com/questions/29666/silencing-linux-console-output — slm, Mar 03 '14 at 14:11
Related: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/17162/silent-booting-linux-from-u-boot — slm, Mar 03 '14 at 14:37
how is this even possible, if this seems to be a working method on other systems but of mine ? — user3085931, Mar 03 '14 at 14:57

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

1. Using dmesg

One method would be to do so using dmesg:

   -n, --console-level level
          Set the level at which logging of messages is done to the console.  
          The level is a level number or abbreviation of the  level  name.
          For all supported levels see dmesg --help output.

For example:

$ sudo dmesg -n0

2. Using rsyslog

Another method would be through rsyslog. The config file /etc/rsyslog.conf:

#kern.*                                                 /dev/console

Changing this line to this:

kern.*                                                 /dev/null

NOTE: A restart of rsyslog is necessary, sudo service rsyslog restart.

3. Using sysctl

Lastly you can control this at the kernel level via sysctl.

I suggest you alter your /etc/sysctl.conf. Specifically, you want to tweak the kernel.printk line.

# Uncomment the following to stop low-level messages on console
kernel.printk = 3 4 1 3

You can see your current settings:

$ sudo sysctl -a|grep "kernel.printk\b"
kernel.printk = 4   4   1   7

4. Using silent

If you truly want to disable all logging, even during boot then change the string quiet to silent in the boot arguments to the kernel in GRUB, in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg.

linux   /vmlinuz-3.12.11-201.fc19.x86_64 ... rhgb silent ....

Thanks. Even when I put the log levels to 1 or 0 it doesn't lower the output. BTW I want to disable the output since startup, not only when the system is ready — user3085931, Mar 03 '14 at 14:20
the silent command didn't work either, I'll try the commenting of kernel.printk as you recommended tomorrow — user3085931, Mar 03 '14 at 14:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 22 '14 at 10:07

1

After hours of searching:

Comment out the *.emerg line or change it to *.emerg /var/log/messages etc

answered Dec 22 '14 at 10:07

alex

11
1

1

Hi and welcome to the site. Please [edit] your answer and explain what file you are suggesting should be edited, and show both the original line and what you want to change it to. – terdon Dec 22 '14 at 10:19
Edited answer to make it more clear. – aseq Jun 14 '16 at 23:05

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 21 '15 at 15:28

0

U-Boot is doing exactly what it should (silencing the output) with the following command:

#define CONFIG_EXTRA_ENV_SETTINGS \
        "silent=1\0" \

seems like this happens only on my system.

answered Mar 21 '15 at 15:28

user3085931

906

Try to disable console output, console=null doesn't work

3 Answers3

1. Using dmesg

2. Using rsyslog

3. Using sysctl

4. Using silent

Linked