serial tty has too verbose console log level

[bam80]

Describe the bug
On newly installed system, if user logins via serial TTY (e.g. in VM), the terminal is polluted by debug log messages immediately after the login.

To Reproduce

1. Install the system to VM with serial TTY console
2. Boot it and login

Expected behavior
A shell prompt should appear.

Actual behavior
The full screen is polluted with debug messages immediately, before the prompt even appears.

OS version:

● fedora-iot:fedora/stable/x86_64/iot                                                                    
Version: 41.20241027.0 (2024-10-27T21:40:59Z)                                          
Commit: bdd952cd0d5f980407644852dbc6ccce7909e61af3f90056860a1ce0501a01f1              

Additional context
So the console log level is set to maximum by default: debug-level messages (7):

$ cat /proc/sys/kernel/printk
7       4       1       7

For comparison, on Fedora SB and all the other distros I faced, the default log level is err (3):

$ cat /proc/sys/kernel/printk
3	4	1	7

Sorry I don't know where the default log level comes from, so can't suggest a patch.

[nullr0ute]

If you add the audit package as a layer does that clean things up for you?

[bam80]

@nullr0ute I need more detailed instructions what I'm supposed to do, preferable in the form of docs.

[pcdubs]

If you add quiet to the kargs, it will align with the other editions (which also have quiet).

ssh root@fitlet2
Boot Status is GREEN - Health Check SUCCESS
Last login: Wed Jul  2 16:47:20 2025 from 192.168.1.11
[root@localhost ~]# cat /proc/sys/kernel/printk
3	4	1	7

You can use rpm-ostree kargs --editor to add it.

[bam80]

Thank you, but:

• I don't want to use quiet (what exactly it does, BTW?)
• other editions do not require it

[nullr0ute]

@nullr0ute I need more detailed instructions what I'm supposed to do, preferable in the form of docs.

As per IoT docs for layering packages. So that would be sudo rpm-ostree install audit

[nullr0ute]

* other editions do not require it

Each edition provided different functionality and hence by definition have different requirements.

[pcdubs]

• other editions do not require it

They include it out of the box.

[bam80]

As per IoT docs for layering packages. So that would be sudo rpm-ostree install audit

I'm aware how to install layered packages, what I mean is it should be documented audit package is required to have normal tty behavior, if IoT doesn't install it by default for some reason.

PS:
thanks for letting me know anyway, because I was completely clueless.

[francoism90]

I also find IoT to verbose.

@pcdubs I didn't know about the quiet flag workaround, thought it only did make the bootup less verbose.

[nullr0ute]

I also find IoT to verbose.

Can you try the audit layer and confirm if it solves your expectations. We don't currently have it in base because of dependencies, but like all things it's a balance

[pcdubs]

I also find IoT to verbose.

Can you try the audit layer and confirm if it solves your expectations. We don't currently have it in base because of dependencies, but like all things it's a balance

Adding audit does quiet things down, it pulls in a couple of deps:

Added:
  audit-4.0.5-2.fc42.x86_64
  audit-rules-4.0.5-2.fc42.x86_64
  initscripts-service-10.26-3.fc42.noarch

[francoism90]

@nullr0ute I'll add back and report back.

I think balance is important, and I understand the image should be small as possible. I do think some packages would help thought, like it's also missing anything mesa at the moment. If you for example want to run Jellyfin, you need to add the mesa drivers to enable hwaccel.

I've also noticed the ucode package (intel/amd) are missing, I do think they should be part of the base, same with some basic firmware images (at least for x86_64). But it's okay, as long as Fedora keeps supporting overlay. I would like the built my own image, but it seems still complicated at this point.

[nullr0ute]

This bug is unrelated to things like mesa and firmware, we absolutely will not be adding mesa to the base images, they can be either layered or used in a container.