From f5a9c321da68d72c7c960a25296104964157338a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Benjamin Leggett <benjamin@edera.io>
Date: Wed, 20 May 2026 13:06:53 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Export in native journald format so that the export can
 be easily munged into any supported target format

---
 edera-debug-report | 22 ++++++++++++++--------
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/edera-debug-report b/edera-debug-report
index b576cd7..29a4399 100644
--- a/edera-debug-report
+++ b/edera-debug-report
@@ -1031,16 +1031,22 @@ def collect_all(
         use_zstd = bool(which("zstd"))
         if cfg.journal:
             # journalctl, limited to 40000 lines (current boot) -> zstd -> STORED
+            # we capture using journalctl's `export` format, which can be later exported
+            # to the format of your choice and filtered on a different machine
+            # using e.g. `journalctl -o cat < myexport.export` or `journalctl -o json < myexport.export`
+            # or converted back to the full binary format for indexed querying on a remote machine, e.g.
+            # `systemd-journal-remote --output=/tmp/myexport.journal < myexport.export`
+            # `journalctl --file /tmp/myexport.journal --since "2026-01-01" --until "2026-01-02"`
             arc = (
-                f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-boot0.json.zst"
+                f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-boot0.export.zst"
                 if use_zstd
-                else f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-boot0.json"
+                else f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-boot0.export"
             )
             run_and_write(
                 log,
                 aw,
                 arc,
-                ["journalctl", "--system", "-n", "40000", "-b", "-0", "--output=json"],
+                ["journalctl", "--system", "-n", "40000", "-b", "-0", "--output=export"],
                 pipe_zstd=use_zstd,
                 zstd_level=13,
                 timeout_s=300.0,
@@ -1064,9 +1070,9 @@ def collect_all(
             ]
             for service in services:
                 arc = (
-                    f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-unit-{service}.json.zst"
+                    f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-unit-{service}.export.zst"
                     if use_zstd
-                    else f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-unit-{service}.json"
+                    else f"{top_name}/systemd-journal-unit-{service}.export"
                 )
                 run_and_write(
                     log,
@@ -1081,7 +1087,7 @@ def collect_all(
                         "-0",
                         "-u",
                         service,
-                        "--output=json",
+                        "--output=export",
                     ],
                     pipe_zstd=use_zstd,
                     zstd_level=13,
@@ -1095,12 +1101,12 @@ def collect_all(
     # systemctl list-units
     if cfg.systemctl:
         if which("systemctl"):
-            arc = f"{top_name}/systemd-units.json"
+            arc = f"{top_name}/systemd-units.export"
             run_and_write(
                 log,
                 aw,
                 arc,
-                ["systemctl", "--system", "list-units", "--output=json"],
+                ["systemctl", "--system", "list-units", "--output=export"],
             )
         else:
             log.append("FAIL: systemd not found; skipping unit list capture")

From 18546f2e03a05d088626f27976e4abfe5b1fbd47 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Benjamin Leggett <benjamin@edera.io>
Date: Wed, 20 May 2026 13:18:15 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] fmt

---
 edera-debug-report | 10 +++++++++-
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/edera-debug-report b/edera-debug-report
index 29a4399..c05bb95 100644
--- a/edera-debug-report
+++ b/edera-debug-report
@@ -1046,7 +1046,15 @@ def collect_all(
                 log,
                 aw,
                 arc,
-                ["journalctl", "--system", "-n", "40000", "-b", "-0", "--output=export"],
+                [
+                    "journalctl",
+                    "--system",
+                    "-n",
+                    "40000",
+                    "-b",
+                    "-0",
+                    "--output=export",
+                ],
                 pipe_zstd=use_zstd,
                 zstd_level=13,
                 timeout_s=300.0,