Root File System Full /var/log/upstart/lightdm.log is 9.8 gb

[azdavef]

When I booted this morning I got a Root File System Full notice and after snooping around I found that my /var/log/upstart/lightdm.log was 9.8 gb, which I suspect is the cause. Can I just delete this file? I think I should try to find out why it is so large, too. I have no idea how to do this. Thanks in advance for the help. I am running 12.04 with all updates installed.

[ohnonot]

i'm no linux god, but i'm pretty sure it's safe to delete log files.
yes, you should find out why it grew so large, but it might prove impossible to open a 9.8gb textfile...
delete it (no trash can!), reboot, see if you have your 9.8gb back, find the same file and see what it contains and if it grows again so large, maybe across a few reboots.
i hope the 1000+ beans agree with me on that...

[azdavef]

i'm no linux god, but i'm pretty sure it's safe to delete log files.
yes, you should find out why it grew so large, but it might prove impossible to open a 9.8gb textfile...
delete it (no trash can!), reboot, see if you have your 9.8gb back, find the same file and see what it contains and if it grows again so large, maybe across a few reboots.
i hope the 1000+ beans agree with me on that...

Thanks. When I try to gksudo nautilus, I get "device is full error". Is there another way to get at ot?

[azdavef]

Thanks. When I try to gksudo nautilus, I get "device is full error". Is there another way to get at ot?

I got the same error with th rm command, but the shred command appears to have removed it. I have most of my Root File System back and the lightdm.log reappeared after reboot with a much smaller size. Thanks for you help, I hope to figure out what caused it.

[HiImTye]

clear some space first, and use something lightweight to read it, like 'less' as you'll need a lot of free mem to read it. you'll likely need to use the terminal (ctrl+alt+t)

[ohnonot]

you marked this as solved.
it would be good to let others know how you solved it.
that's what forums are for.

[dasjefe]

I'm having the same issue. My lightdm.log was >100GB when I deleted it. It is back and growing once again. I had the same problem with the .xsession-errors file. However, I was able to delete/recreate and set this file to immutable and that problem went away. I can't seem to use the same trick for the lightdm.log file. Does anyone have a solution for this besides just deleting it all the time? Thanks!

[morrcahn]

I'm having the same issue. My lightdm.log was >100GB when I deleted it. It is back and growing once again. I had the same problem with the .xsession-errors file. However, I was able to delete/recreate and set this file to immutable and that problem went away. I can't seem to use the same trick for the lightdm.log file. Does anyone have a solution for this besides just deleting it all the time? Thanks!

You could set up a cron job (sudo crontab -e) that would empty it every week or every two days-- however often you feel necessary.

0 3 */2 * * > /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log # empty the file at 3AM every two days.

I would also look into the man page for crontab for examples (man 5 crontab). This doesn't figure out the reason for it becoming so large, but automates emptying the file.

[VMC]

To the OP, is this from when you first installed 12.04? Mine is only 2.3kb, but I re-install when more frequently. You can also 'head or tail' that file, but you must use root

 sudo  /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log or lightdm.log

. This is the first time I ever looked at that log. No errors, just Initializing and DEBUG messages.

Maybe you have some errors in there, and that is why its filling up.

[dasjefe]

Thanks for the ideas. I might end up having to just setup a cron job. A little more info: This is a headless 13.04 system that I only access through SSH/VNC. This error appears to be related to vino. Here's a section of the lightdm.log file:

18/09/2013 09:17:10 AM Client Protocol Version 3.4
18/09/2013 09:17:10 AM Ignoring minor version mismatch


** (vino-server:1799): WARNING **: Deferring authentication of 'mail.probldgsys$




** (vino-server:1799): WARNING **: VNC authentication failure from 'emr.houston$


18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM rfbAuthPasswordChecked: password check failed
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM [IPv4] Got connection from client emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM other clients:
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM mail.probldgsystems.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM host.colocrossing.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM mailer.gonetwork.it
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM ks3001456.kimsufi.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM mail.probldgsystems.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM mail.probldgsystems.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM mail.probldgsystems.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM dasjefe-PC
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM Client Protocol Version 3.4
18/09/2013 09:17:11 AM Ignoring minor version mismatch


** (vino-server:1799): WARNING **: Deferring authentication of 'emr.houstonrheu$




** (vino-server:1799): WARNING **: VNC authentication failure from 'mail.probld$


18/09/2013 09:17:16 AM rfbAuthPasswordChecked: password check failed


** (vino-server:1799): WARNING **: VNC authentication failure from 'emr.houston$


18/09/2013 09:17:17 AM rfbAuthPasswordChecked: password check failed
8/09/2013 09:17:17 AM rfbAuthPasswordChecked: password check failed
18/09/2013 09:17:17 AM [IPv4] Got connection from client emr.houstonrheum.com
18/09/2013 09:17:17 AM other clients: