Why does podman logs show initial journal cursor error for rootless user?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Podman

Issue

  • podman logs <container_name> for rootless users reports with below error:

     Error: initial journal cursor: failed to get cursor: cannot assign requested address

Resolution

Edit file/etc/containers/containers.conf by changing the log_driver as k8s-file and uncomment events_logger as journald.

   # vi containers.conf           
   log_driver = "k8s-file"      <-- changing log_driver
   events_logger = "journald"   <-- uncomment events_logger

Root Cause

Red Hat does not recommend journald as log_driver for rootless users because rootless users are member of WHEEL group.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Run podman along with --log-driver as journald.

    # podman run \
--name example \
--hostname test \
--detach \
--restart=unless-stopped \
--security-opt seccomp=$PATH\
--log-driver journald \ ubi8

  • Check for error in container log.

    # podman logs <container_name>
Error: initial journal cursor: failed to get cursor: cannot assign requested address

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