When attempting to read system logs via journalctl on CentOS 7 as a regular user, you'll encounter:

No journal files were found.

This occurs because by default, journal files in /run/log/journal/ are owned by the systemd-journal group with 0640 permissions.

Instead of using sudo, add your user to the systemd-journal group:

sudo usermod -aG systemd-journal $USER

After adding the group membership, either:

newgrp systemd-journal

Or simply log out and back in for the changes to take effect.

Check your current group memberships with:

groups

You should see systemd-journal in the output. Now try:

journalctl -n 50

This should display the last 50 log entries without requiring root privileges.

For permanent access across reboots, ensure journal persistence is enabled:

sudo mkdir -p /var/log/journal
sudo systemctl restart systemd-journald

Verify storage is persistent:

journalctl --list-boots

Once configured, you can use all normal journalctl flags as a regular user:

# Filter by service
journalctl -u nginx

# Follow logs in real-time
journalctl -f

# Show logs from last hour
journalctl --since "1 hour ago"

# Combine filters
journalctl -u postgresql --since "today" --until "1 hour ago"

If issues persist after group assignment:

# Verify journal directory permissions
ls -ld /var/log/journal

# Check active group membership
id -nG

# Validate journal files exist
sudo journalctl --disk-usage

# Force journal rotation if needed
sudo journalctl --rotate

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When attempting to run journalctl as a regular user on CentOS 7, you'll encounter the frustrating message:

No journal files were found.

This occurs because by default, journal files (stored in /run/log/journal/) are only readable by root and members of specific system groups.

The most secure and maintainable approach is to add your user to the systemd-journal group:

sudo usermod -a -G systemd-journal $USER

After running this command, you'll need to either:

1. Log out and log back in
2. Run newgrp systemd-journal in your current session

To confirm your user has been properly added to the group:

groups $USER
id $USER

You should see systemd-journal in the output.

For temporary access or special cases, you can modify the journal directory permissions:

sudo chmod -R g+rx /run/log/journal/
sudo chgrp -R systemd-journal /run/log/journal/

However, this approach isn't recommended for production systems as it might not persist across reboots.

To make these changes persistent across reboots, modify the journald configuration:

sudo vim /etc/systemd/journald.conf

Add or uncomment these lines:

Storage=persistent
ForwardToSyslog=no

Then restart the journald service:

sudo systemctl restart systemd-journald

After implementing any of these solutions, test with:

journalctl -b
journalctl -u nginx.service

You should now be able to view logs without sudo or root access.

• If changes don't take effect immediately, restart your terminal session
• Verify journal files exist in /run/log/journal/
• Check SELinux context if you're still having issues: ls -Z /run/log/journal/