Bug 505579

Summary:	Stdout of programs should not go in the journal
Product:	[Applications] dolphin	Reporter:	Björn Lindqvist <bjourne>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Dolphin Bug Assignee <dolphin-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED NOT A BUG
Severity:	minor	CC:	dolphin-bugs-null, kdedev
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	25.04.2
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Björn Lindqvist 2025-06-13 23:15:26 UTC

Lots of desktop programs status messages on the console. These messages end up in the journal when you start these programs from Dolphin:

jun 12 14:39:18 bjourne mplayer[232387]: ==========================================================================
jun 12 14:39:18 bjourne mplayer[232387]: Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
jun 12 14:39:18 bjourne mplayer[232387]: AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 45.4 kbit/1.48% (ratio: 5669->384000)
jun 12 14:39:18 bjourne mplayer[232387]: Selected audio codec: [ffaac] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AAC (MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Audio))
jun 12 14:39:18 bjourne mplayer[232387]: ==========================================================================

99% of all log messages are like these on my computer. I suppose redirecting stderr to the journal might be useful but redirecting stdout too seem plain wrong. If the behavior won't be changed could there be a configuration setting to disable stdout logging?

Comment 1 TraceyC 2025-06-19 18:26:50 UTC

Thanks for the bug report. Unfortunately there isn't enough information for us to try to figure out what's happening. Please add information about your system as requested in the bug report template. Copy and paste this with the information into a new comment.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
KDE Plasma Version: 
KDE Frameworks Version: 
Qt Version: 

Also, can you please let us know a few of the programs you see this with? I was unable to reproduce this on Dolphin built from git-master with SMPlayer. I see the same output written to the journal whether I start it from the application menu or by right clicking a file in Dolphin and opening it with SMPlayer.

Comment 2 Björn Lindqvist 2025-06-20 13:30:12 UTC

You are right. Dolphin does not decide that stdout of programs it starts should be redirected to the journal. It is some other KDE component that it uses that decides that. Can you tell me which component that might be so I can move the bug the correct product? Because the redirect-stdout-to-the-journal feature is still problematic.

Comment 3 TraceyC 2025-06-20 15:10:38 UTC

Whether programs write to the journal is probably determined by the programs themselves. Please provide this information:

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
KDE Plasma Version: 
KDE Frameworks Version: 
Qt Version: 

Also, can you please let us know a few of the programs you see this with?

Comment 4 Björn Lindqvist 2025-06-21 01:21:56 UTC

Just run mplayer --help from the launcher and see for yourself:

jun 21 00:20:55 bjourne systemd[780]: Started mplayer.
jun 21 00:20:55 bjourne mplayer[15868]: Usage:   mplayer [options] [url|path/]filename
jun 21 00:20:55 bjourne mplayer[15868]: Basic options: (complete list in the man page)
jun 21 00:20:55 bjourne mplayer[15868]:  -vo <drv>        select video output driver ('-vo help' for a list)
jun 21 00:20:55 bjourne mplayer[15868]:  -ao <drv>        select audio output driver ('-ao help' for a list)
...

Comment 5 TraceyC 2025-06-23 17:26:50 UTC

Please provide on or two other programs you see this behavior with. I would like to compare the behavior. Thanks.

Comment 6 TraceyC 2025-06-24 00:06:48 UTC

After discussing this with other contributors, this is going to be determined by a combination of the application and init system. That woul be systemv-init or systemd, depending on your distro. This isn't something KDE can control. I recommend that you reach out to your distro to get support for suppressing output to your system logs. 

Thanks for understanding.