systemd / systemd/systemd

audit logs quite hard to see with standard VT colors

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#14,495 38 comments 7 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Description

Since https://github.com/systemd/systemd/commit/194da5ca5159597e4fac726db5cee104ec338213 (thanks to Kazuo Morikawa for finding the commit), systemd colors audit logs in 'ANSI blue' by default. On a VT on a stock Fedora install - which I think will be the same on other distros and *nixes - this is quite hard to read, as the blue used for 'ANSI blue' is a pretty dark one, and the background color is black.

On Fedora with GNOME Terminal the default color palette is 'Tango' with color scheme 'Tango Dark' and with this combo a medium-light blue is used on a dark grey background, so that's quite readable. I don't know about other terminal apps. But it's definitely pretty bad on VTs.

It's difficult to pick colors that work for everyone all the time, but being hard to read on a VT seems bad :/

Here's a photo of my screen. If anything, the photo brightens things a tad and makes it look slightly easier to read than it is in person.

IMG_20200106_095944

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing commit 194da5ca5159597e4fac726db5cee104ec338213 and reproducing the audit-log colors on a stock Fedora virtual terminal and in GNOME Terminal. Compare the default palette behavior and determine a color choice that keeps audit logs readable across the reported terminal environments.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c, linux
Domain
cli, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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