Accessing and configuring logs¶

Logs are generated for authd and its brokers, which can help when troubleshooting and reporting bugs.

authd¶

authd logs to the system journal.

For authd entries, run:

sudo journalctl -u authd.service

If you want logs for authd and all brokers on the system, run:

sudo journalctl -u authd.service -u "snap.authd-*.service"

For specific broker entries run the command for your chosen broker:

Google IAM

sudo journalctl -u snap.authd-google.authd-google.service

MS Entra ID

sudo journalctl -u snap.authd-msentraid.authd-msentraid.service

For the GDM integration:

sudo journalctl /usr/bin/gnome-shell

For anything else or more broader investigation, use sudo journalctl.

Configure logging verbosity¶

You can increase the verbosity of the logs in different ways.

PAM module¶

Append debug=true to all the lines with pam_authd_exec.so or pam_authd.so in the PAM configuration files (common-auth, gdm-authd…) in /etc/pam.d/ to increase the verbosity of the PAM messages.

NSS module¶

Export AUTHD_NSS_INFO=stderr environment variable on any program using the authd NSS module to get more info on NSS requests to authd.

authd service¶

To increase the verbosity of the service itself, edit the service file:

sudo systemctl edit authd.service

Add the following lines to the override file and make sure to add -vv at the end of the authd command:

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/libexec/authd -vv

Then you need to restart the service with sudo systemctl restart authd.

GDM¶

Ensure the lines in /etc/gdm3/custom.conf are not commented:

[debug]
# Uncomment the line below to turn on debugging
# More verbose logs
# Additionally lets the X server dump core if it crashes
Enable=true

Then you need to restart the service with sudo systemctl restart gdm.

authd broker service¶

To increase the verbosity of the broker service, edit the service file:

Google IAM

sudo systemctl edit snap.authd-google.authd-google.service

MS Entra ID

sudo systemctl edit snap.authd-msentraid.authd-msentraid.service

Add the following lines to the override file and make sure to add -vv to the exec command:

Google IAM

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/snap run authd-google -vv

MS Entra ID

[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/snap run authd-msentraid -vv

You will then need to restart the service with:

Google IAM

sudo snap restart authd-google.

MS Entra ID

sudo snap restart authd-msentraid.