System Logs : inconsistent display

Webmin
1
SYSTEM INFORMATION
OS type and version Debian Linux 12
Webmin version 2.660

The search results displayed are different from those provided using the command line showed on top of the results field).

Example :
Display

Screenshot_20260828_123807
Screenshot_20260828_1238071228×207 21 KB

Command line

# journalctl --no-hostname --lines 10000 --unit postfix\@\-\.service --since '7 days ago' --grep "leslab" | awk '{ print $1, $2, $3, "… …" }'
Aug 28 10:03:44 … …
Aug 28 10:02:41 … …
Aug 28 10:02:41 … …
Aug 28 10:01:36 … …
Aug 28 09:56:18 … …
……

With a different filter “since”, results can also be correct :

Screenshot_20260828_124855
Screenshot_20260828_1248551032×275 30.8 KB

Logic ?
I tried to find some kind of logic making different tests but my tests where unsuccessful. Sorry.
All I can say is that the default “Latest available” often returns consistent results.

Tell me if you need additional information I could provide you.

3

Hello,

Thanks for the report. This is fixed now!

The real cause was that on systemd versions older than 254 (including your Debian 12), journalctl --lines N --since ... returns the first N entries after the since point instead of the last N.

With “newest lines at bottom” enabled, the latest entries were cut off, so the filter found nothing.

Your CLI test worked because journalctl’s --grep filters before the line limit.

Later versions of systemd fix this inconsistency, though.

The patch will be included in the next Webmin release.