From Newsgroup: muc.lists.freebsd.stable

Hi,

In /etc/sysctl.conf I have

kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=1

and so dmsg has things like

[1353919] swp_pager_getswapspace(32): failed

the [1353919] I guess being the timestamp.

But what is it?

Seconds since boot?

If it's that, then where can the true boot time be
found?

If not, then what does the number signify?
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From Newsgroup: muc.lists.freebsd.stable

void <void@f-m.fm> wrote:

Hi,

In /etc/sysctl.conf I have

kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=1

and so dmsg has things like

[1353919] swp_pager_getswapspace(32): failed

the [1353919] I guess being the timestamp.

But what is it?

Seconds since boot?

If it's that, then where can the true boot time be
found?

Yes! You can get the value from sysctl kern.boottime.

Here is a small program I wrote a while back, just call it
as a dmesg substitute.

It uses gawk because of strftime, but now that native awk handles strftime,
it could be converted to use that (gensub will have to be modified)

gawk is in lang/gawk

Incidentally, if you put the kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=1
in boot/loader.conf instead, it starts much earlier in the boot process,
useful if you are anal about the format of bootup dmesg output!

Cheers, Jamie

#!/bin/sh -efu
set -efu

boottime="$(/sbin/sysctl -n kern.boottime | /usr/local/bin/gawk '{printf "%d", gensub ("^.* sec = ([1-9][0-9]*), .*$", "\\1", 1)}')"

[ -z "$(printf '%s' "$boottime" | /usr/bin/egrep '^0$|^[1-9][0-9]*$')" ] && { printf 'Invalid boottime retrieved.\n' >& 2; exit 1; }

/sbin/dmesg "$@" | /usr/local/bin/gawk -v boottime="$boottime" '

{
uptime = gensub ("^\\[([1-9][0-9]*)\\] .*$", "\\1", 1)
if (uptime == $0) realtime = "??? ?? ??:??;??"
else realtime = strftime ("%b %d %T", uptime + boottime)

print realtime " " $0
}'


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From Newsgroup: muc.lists.freebsd.stable

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On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 10:22=E2=80=AFAM void <void@f-m.fm> wrote:

Hi,

In /etc/sysctl.conf I have

kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=3D1

and so dmsg has things like

[1353919] swp_pager_getswapspace(32): failed

the [1353919] I guess being the timestamp.

But what is it?

Seconds since boot?

If it's that, then where can the true boot time be
found?

Seconds since boot time.

% sysctl kern.boottime
kern.boottime: { sec =3D 1765407044, usec =3D 678571 } Wed Dec 10 15:50:44 = 2025

Warner

If not, then what does the number signify?

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote g= mail_quote_container"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 19,=
2025 at 10:22=E2=80=AFAM void &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:void@f-m.fm">void@f-m.= fm</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margi= n:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex= ">Hi,<br>

In /etc/sysctl.conf I have<br>

kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=3D1<br>

and so dmsg has things like<br>

[1353919] swp_pager_getswapspace(32): failed<br>

the [1353919] I guess being the timestamp.<br>

But what is it?<br>

Seconds since boot?<br>

If it&#39;s that, then where can the true boot time be <br> found?<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Seconds since boot time.</div><d= iv><br></div><div>% sysctl=C2=A0kern.boottime</div><div>kern.boottime: { se=
c =3D 1765407044, usec =3D 678571 } Wed Dec 10 15:50:44 2025</div><div><br>= </div><div>Warner</div><div><br></div><div>=C2=A0</div><blockquote class=3D= "gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(2= 04,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
If not, then what does the number signify?<br>





-- <br>

</blockquote></div></div>

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From Newsgroup: muc.lists.freebsd.stable

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On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 1:38=E2=80=AFPM Jamie Landeg-Jones <jamie@catflap.o=

wrote:

void <void@f-m.fm> wrote:

Hi,

In /etc/sysctl.conf I have

kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=3D1

and so dmsg has things like

[1353919] swp_pager_getswapspace(32): failed

the [1353919] I guess being the timestamp.

But what is it?

Seconds since boot?

If it's that, then where can the true boot time be
found?

Yes! You can get the value from sysctl kern.boottime.

Here is a small program I wrote a while back, just call it
as a dmesg substitute.

It uses gawk because of strftime, but now that native awk handles strftim=

e,

it could be converted to use that (gensub will have to be modified)

gawk is in lang/gawk

Incidentally, if you put the kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=3D1
in boot/loader.conf instead, it starts much earlier in the boot process, useful if you are anal about the format of bootup dmesg output!

Cheers, Jamie

#!/bin/sh -efu
set -efu

boottime=3D"$(/sbin/sysctl -n kern.boottime | /usr/local/bin/gawk '{print=

f

"%d", gensub ("^.* sec =3D ([1-9][0-9]*), .*$", "\\1", 1)}')"

[ -z "$(printf '%s' "$boottime" | /usr/bin/egrep '^0$|^[1-9][0-9]*$')" ]
&& { printf 'Invalid boottime retrieved.\n' >& 2; exit 1; }

/sbin/dmesg "$@" | /usr/local/bin/gawk -v boottime=3D"$boottime" '

{
uptime =3D gensub ("^\\[([1-9][0-9]*)\\] .*$", "\\1", 1)
if (uptime =3D=3D $0) realtime =3D "??? ?? ??:??;??"
else realtime =3D strftime ("%b %d %T", uptime + boottime)

print realtime " " $0
}'

Very cool!

Warner

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Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<div dir=3D"ltr"><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote g= mail_quote_container"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 19,=
2025 at 1:38=E2=80=AFPM Jamie Landeg-Jones &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:jamie@cat= flap.org">jamie@catflap.org</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gm= ail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,= 204,204);padding-left:1ex">void &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:void@f-m.fm" target= =3D"_blank">void@f-m.fm</a>&gt; wrote:<br>

&gt; Hi,<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; In /etc/sysctl.conf I have<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=3D1<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; and so dmsg has things like<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; [1353919] swp_pager_getswapspace(32): failed<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; the [1353919] I guess being the timestamp.<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; But what is it?<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; Seconds since boot?<br>
&gt;<br>
&gt; If it&#39;s that, then where can the true boot time be <br>
&gt; found?<br>

Yes! You can get the value from sysctl kern.boottime.<br>

Here is a small program I wrote a while back, just call it<br>
as a dmesg substitute.<br>

It uses gawk because of strftime, but now that native awk handles strftime,=

it could be converted to use that (gensub will have to be modified)<br>

gawk is in lang/gawk<br>

Incidentally, if you put the kern.msgbuf_show_timestamp=3D1<br>
in boot/loader.conf instead, it starts much earlier in the boot process,<br=

useful if you are anal about the format of bootup dmesg output!<br>

Cheers, Jamie<br>

#!/bin/sh -efu<br>
set -efu<br>

boottime=3D&quot;$(/sbin/sysctl -n kern.boottime | /usr/local/bin/gawk &#39= ;{printf &quot;%d&quot;, gensub (&quot;^.* sec =3D ([1-9][0-9]*), .*$&quot;=
, &quot;\\1&quot;, 1)}&#39;)&quot;<br>

[ -z &quot;$(printf &#39;%s&#39; &quot;$boottime&quot; | /usr/bin/egrep &#3= 9;^0$|^[1-9][0-9]*$&#39;)&quot; ] &amp;&amp; { printf &#39;Invalid boottime=
retrieved.\n&#39; &gt;&amp; 2; exit 1; }<br>

/sbin/dmesg &quot;$@&quot; | /usr/local/bin/gawk -v boottime=3D&quot;$boott= ime&quot; &#39;<br>

=C2=A0 =C2=A0 {<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 uptime =3D gensub (&quot;^\\[([1-9][0-9]*)\\] .*$&quot=
;, &quot;\\1&quot;, 1)<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 if (uptime =3D=3D $0) realtime =3D &quot;??? ?? ??:??;= ??&quot;<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0else realtime =3D strftime (&quot;%b %d %T&quot;=
, uptime + boottime)<br>

=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 print realtime &quot; &quot; $0<br>
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 }&#39;<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Very cool!</div><d= iv><br></div><div>Warner=C2=A0</div></div></div>

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From Newsgroup: muc.lists.freebsd.stable

Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> wrote:

Very cool!

Thanks! I always intended on adding this option to the dmesg command
itself, but as with most things I fiddle with, the itch scratching
stopped at the point of achieving an AWK wrapper script around the
original command, so instead it got relegated to the ever expanding
TODO list!

Cheers, Jamie


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From Newsgroup: muc.lists.freebsd.stable

On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 08:37:41PM +0000, Jamie Landeg-Jones wrote:

Yes! You can get the value from sysctl kern.boottime.

Here is a small program I wrote a while back, just call it
as a dmesg substitute.

This is great TYVM!
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