How to fix bootchart error

Question

bootchart throws this error message.

sudo  pybootchartgui
No path given, trying /var/log/bootchart.tgz  
warning: path '/var/log/bootchart.tgz' does not exist, ignoring.
Parse error: empty state: '/var/log/bootchart.tgz' does not contain a valid bootchart

Answer 1

In my version of ubuntu (12.04) bootchart creates a different log file every time the computer boots, this goes into the directory /var/log/bootstrap. Though, bootstartgui looks by default to the file /var/log/bootchart.tgz which does not exist.

In 12.04, if you install bootchart properly, you automatically get an image file of the boot graph representation, so you do not need to run bootstartgui.

In fact, it is enough to run (Alt+F2):

nautilus /var/log/bootchart

then double click on the image that contains the date and time that you are interested in.

If you want to delete useless logs and save space, you can start nautilus with sudo from the commandline: Type (Alt+Ctrl+T) and then:

gksu nautilus /var/log/bootchart 

This will give you a window where you can also delete files. Be very cautious not to delete anything on another folder!

Answer 2

That error seems to be normal when you installed pybootchartgui (is for viewing bootcharts) but did not install package bootchart (this makes the bootchart) (source).

pybootchartgui is also used to view other machine's bootchart so bootchart is not a dependency of this package.

Answer 3

Ubuntu 15.04 and later

The boot chart will appear in /run/log/bootchart*.svg with a time stamp in the name.