Dump1090 status Question

FlightAware
1

Slow-to-learn noob here.

Can anyone explain “Warning: Journal has been rotated since unit was started. Log output is incomplete or unavailable?”

dump1090 status returns:

“dump1090-fa.service - dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dump1090-fa.service; enabled; vendor pres
Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-11-11 17:38:11 UTC; 1 weeks 3 days ag
Docs: PiAware - ADS-B and MLAT Receiver - FlightAware
Main PID: 1585 (dump1090-fa)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 4915)
CGroup: /system.slice/dump1090-fa.service
└─1585 /usr/bin/dump1090-fa --quiet --device-type rtlsdr --device-ind

Warning: Journal has been rotated since unit was started. Log output is incomple
lines 1-10/10 (END)
● dump1090-fa.service - dump1090 ADS-B receiver (FlightAware customization)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dump1090-fa.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-11-11 17:38:11 UTC; 1 weeks 3 days ago
Docs: PiAware - ADS-B and MLAT Receiver - FlightAware
Main PID: 1585 (dump1090-fa)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 4915)
CGroup: /system.slice/dump1090-fa.service
└─1585 /usr/bin/dump1090-fa --quiet --device-type rtlsdr --device-index 0 --gain 42.1 --fix --lat xxxx --lon -xxxx --ma

Warning: Journal has been rotated since unit was started. Log output is incomplete or unavailable.”

Does “rotated” simply mean re-written? Pls don’t be harsh :flushed_face:

pi3B+ running piaware 8.2 prostick and fa antenna @30’ (~10m) agl.

Tnx, vb77

2

In effect, yes.

Not my words, an AI response, but looked pretty accurate to me.

The warning “Journal has been rotated since unit was started. Log output is incomplete or unavailable” means that the system’s logging service (systemd-journald) has archived or rotated older log entries to manage disk space — typically by compressing or deleting them after a set time or size limit. Because the service (dump1090-fa) has been running longer than the journal’s retention period, the logs from when it started are no longer available in the current journal. It doesn’t mean the service is broken — just that you can’t view its full startup logs anymore. This is normal behavior on most Linux systems and not something to worry about unless you need to debug startup issues.

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3

Thanks. I appreciate it. That was my guess. Different wording.

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