Bug#799346: rsyslog upgrade fails with message "start request repeated too quickly, refusing to start."

[Eric Van Buggenhaut]

I’m experiencing the same issue here:

root@kona:/home/eric# apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up rsyslog (8.4.2-1+deb8u1) ...
Job for rsyslog.service failed. See 'systemctl status rsyslog.service' and 
'journalctl -xn' for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript rsyslog, action "restart" failed.
dpkg: error processing package rsyslog (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 rsyslog
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
root@kona:/home/eric#

root@kona:/home/eric# systemctl status rsyslog.service syslog.socket
● rsyslog.service - System Logging Service
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/rsyslog.service; enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: start-limit) since Mon 2015-10-05 11:33:29 CEST; 50s 
ago
     Docs: man:rsyslogd(8)
           http://www.rsyslog.com/doc/
  Process: 11021 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/rsyslogd -n (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 11021 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.
Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: Unit rsyslog.service entered failed state.
Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: rsyslog.service start request repeated too...t.
Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.
Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: Unit rsyslog.service entered failed state.
Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: rsyslog.service start request repeated too...t.
Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.

● syslog.socket - Syslog Socket
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/syslog.socket; static)
   Active: failed (Result: service-failed-permanent) since Mon 2015-10-05 
11:33:29 CEST; 50s ago
     Docs: man:systemd.special(7)
           http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/syslog
   Listen: /run/systemd/journal/syslog (Datagram)

Oct 05 11:33:29 kona systemd[1]: Unit syslog.socket entered failed state.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

root@kona:/home/eric# journalctl -alb -u rsyslog.service
-- Logs begin at Tue 2015-09-29 13:24:13 CEST, end at Mon 2015-10-05 11:33:29 CE
Sep 29 13:24:23 kona systemd[1]: rsyslog.service: main process exited, code=exit
Sep 29 13:24:23 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.
Sep 29 13:24:23 kona systemd[1]: Unit rsyslog.service entered failed state.
Sep 29 13:24:26 kona systemd[1]: rsyslog.service: main process exited, code=exit
Sep 29 13:24:26 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.
Sep 29 13:24:26 kona systemd[1]: Unit rsyslog.service entered failed state.
Sep 29 13:24:28 kona systemd[1]: rsyslog.service: main process exited, code=exit
Sep 29 13:24:28 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.
Sep 29 13:24:28 kona systemd[1]: Unit rsyslog.service entered failed state.
Sep 29 13:24:31 kona systemd[1]: rsyslog.service: main process exited, code=exit
Sep 29 13:24:31 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.
Sep 29 13:24:31 kona systemd[1]: Unit rsyslog.service entered failed state.
Sep 29 13:24:32 kona systemd[1]: rsyslog.service: main process exited, code=exit
Sep 29 13:24:32 kona systemd[1]: Failed to start System Logging Service.
Sep 29 13:24:32 kona systemd[1]: Unit rsyslog.service entered failed state.
…


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