On 22/11/17 12:32, KatolaZ wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 22, 2017 at 12:24:28PM +0100, John Hughes wrote:
>>
>> I was amazed that KatolaZ couldn't imagine any way of reading text from a
>> file without a special application, doesn't he have strings(1) on his
>> "forensic system"?
>
> As for journalctl, you forget to mention that it is not available as a
> separate component from systemd.

"Not available"?  Attached to systemd with epoxy?  Or an independent
executable that could easily be installed on a forensic system the good
old fashioned way.  Or, if you prefer, just install the systemd package
and use some other init system:

> I had never thhougt that I would have been suggested to look at logs
> by grepping the results of "strings" on a binary file. But I
> understand that this is considered "amazing technological progress" in
> some camps.

Whatever gets the job done.  Personally I'd just install the application
that knows how to read the file, but if I was unable to do that for some
reason or other I'd use one of the many useful tools Unix like systems
come with rather than claiming the job was impossible.