Cannot disable debug logging on OpenWRT

[Mntz]

I just installed ctrld 1.5.3 on an OpenWRT 25.12.5 router and noticed that logging is enabled with /etc/controld/ctrld.log growing rapidly in size.
Not sure why it's logging at debug level, I just installed it using the automated script. I tried adding the --silent parameter and restarting the service but it keeps logging.

My /etc/init.d/ctrld contains the below command and I don't see any logging defined in ctrld.toml:
cmd="/usr/sbin/ctrld "run" "--silent" "--cd" "xxxxxxxxx" "--iface=auto" "--homedir=/etc/controld" "--config=/etc/controld/ctrld.toml""

Is this a bug in version 1.5.3?

[cuonglm]

Do you use custom remote config?

[Mntz]

No, the TOML Config field is empty for my router.

[cuonglm]

Could you please share your /etc/controld/ctrld.toml with sensitive information redacted?

[Mntz]

Sure!

# AUTO-GENERATED VIA CD FLAG - DO NOT MODIFY

[listener]
  [listener.0]
    ip = '0.0.0.0'
    port = 5354

    [listener.0.policy]
      name = 'My Policy'
      rules = [
        {        'captive.apple.com' = []},
        {        'aircanadawifi.com' = []},
        {        'acwifi.com' = []},
        {        'gogoinflight.com' = []},
        {        'southwestwifi.com' = []},
        {        'singaporeair-krisworld.com' = []},
        {        'airborne.gogoinflight.com' = []},
        {        'aainflight.com' = []},
        {        'aa.viasat.com' = []},
        {        'deltawifi.com' = []},
        {        'wifi.delta.com' = []},
        {        'unitedwifi.com' = []},
        {        'shop.ba.com' = []},
        {        'alaskawifi.com' = []},
        {        'flyfi.com' = []},
        {        'wifi.airasia.com' = []},
        {        'wifi.sncf' = []},
        {        'wifi.tgv-lyria.com' = []},
        {        'freewlan.sbb.ch' = []},
        {        'register.onboard.eurostar.com' = []},
        {        'thalysnet.com' = []},
        {        'iceportal.de' = []},
        {        'vvm.mstore.msg.t-mobile.com' = []},
        {        'wifi.inflightinternet.com' = []},
        {        'captive.inflightinternet.com' = []},
        {        'airbornesecure.inflightinternet.com' = []},
        {        'ip.videotron.ca' = []},
        {        'wifi.united.com' = []},
        {        'etihadwi-fly.com' = []},
        {        'inflight-wifi.com' = []},
        {        'southwestwifi.com' = []},
        {        'wifi.cathaypacific.com' = []},
        {        'timhortonswifi.com' = []},
        {        'detectportal.firefox.com' = []},
        {        'portal.mist.com' = []},
        {        'wifi.connected.xfinity.com' = []},
        {        'vvm.ee.co.uk' = []},
        {        'wifi.tgvlyria.com' = []},
        {        'guestinternet.com' = []},
        {        '*.network-auth.com' = []},
        {        'secure.datavalet.io' = []},
        {        'login.cloud5.com' = []},
        {        'wirelessportal.americanexpress.com' = []},
        {        '*.globalreachtech.com' = []},
        {        'neverssl.com' = []}
      ]

[network]
  [network.0]
    name = 'Network 0'
    cidrs = ['0.0.0.0/0']

[upstream]
  [upstream.0]
    type = 'doh'
    endpoint = 'https://dns.controld.com/xxxxxxxxx'
    bootstrap_ip = '76.76.2.22'
    timeout = 5000

[cuonglm]

Thanks, are you sure your old ctrld process was killed when you re-run it?

Please do following steps:

• Run ctrld stop -vv
• Using ps -ef | grep ctrld to check whether ctrld is stopped or not (ps flags may vary)
• Re-run ctrld with --silent flag.

[Mntz]

Yup, tried it again. I can even see it running with silent flag but still it's writing to log:

root@OpenWrt:~# ps w | grep 'ctrld'
29913 root     1251m S    /usr/sbin/ctrld run --cd xxxxxxxxx --silent --iface=auto --homedir=/etc/controld --config=/etc/controld
30202 root      1384 R    grep ctrld

For now, I created a symlink to /dev/null for the log as a work-around.

[cuonglm]

Could you please run ctrld log view and paste it here?

You may want to remove sensitive information!

[matrix8967]

👋️

We did make some changes to the default logging behavior recently in version 1.5.1. Release Notes here.

The tl;dr is that we now default to writing a log file (limited to 5mb file size) to disk - as well as a single backup log file (also limited to 5mb and renamed as ctrld.log.1. This allows for easier debugging in the event of a crash or sudden/unexpected reboot.

Could you check the /etc/controld/ directory by using: sudo ls -al /etc/controld/ and paste the output here? I'd like to see if your ctrld.log or ctrld.log.1 file exceed 5.0 mb file size - as well as their last write/modification date. (Including the currently running ctrld parameters by running ps | grep ctrld | grep -v grep would also be helpful.)

As an example: here's a quick output of my GL.iNet device's /etc/controld/ directory file structure w/ default logging settings: This shows the previous/backup 5mb ctrld.log.1, as well as the currently running ctrld.log along w/ the current FW version:

---------------------------------------------------------------
   For those about to rock... OpenWrt 23.05-SNAPSHOT,
 ---------------------------------------------------------------

root@interceptor:~# ps | grep ctrld | grep -v grep
 7097 root     1315m S    /usr/sbin/ctrld run --cd XXYYZZ --iface=auto --homedir=/etc/controld --config=/etc/controld/ctrld.toml

root@interceptor:~# ls -alrth /etc/controld/
-rw-------    1 root     root        5.0M Jul  1 16:46 ctrld.log.1
drwx------    2 root     root         376 Jul  1 16:46 .
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        3.2K Jul  8 07:50 ctrld.toml
drwxrwxr-x    1 root     root        4.7K Jul  8 07:50 ..
-rw-------    1 root     root        3.0M Jul 10 10:14 ctrld.log

If you've restarted ctrld using the --silent flag - but you're still seeing logs being written to the disk - then we may have a bug. 🤔 🐛

When I stop / start ctrld using the --silent flag - I no longer see my logs written to disk:

root@interceptor:~# ps | grep ctrld | grep -v grep
 1326 root     1251m S    /usr/sbin/ctrld run --silent --cd=XXYYZZ -vv --iface=auto --homedir=/etc/controld --config=/etc/controld/ctrld.toml
 
root@interceptor:~# date
Fri Jul 10 10:42:11 CDT 2026

root@interceptor:~# ls -alrth /etc/controld/
-rw-------    1 root     root        5.0M Jul  1 16:46 ctrld.log.1
-rw-------    1 root     root        3.0M Jul 10 10:40 ctrld.log
drwx------    2 root     root         376 Jul 10 10:40 .
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        3.2K Jul 10 10:40 ctrld.toml
drwxrwxr-x    1 root     root        4.7K Jul 10 10:40 ..

root@interceptor:~# tail -n 1 /etc/controld/ctrld.log
{"level":"info","time":"2026-07-10T15:40:32Z.411","message":"Service stopped"}

Let us know if you're experiencing something different - or have other questions and we'll dig in more.

[Mntz]

The log functionality you describe, is indeed what I'm seeing:

root@OpenWrt:~# ls -alrth /etc/controld/
-rw-------    1 root     root        2.0M Jul  7 12:34 ctrld.log.bak
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        2.4K Jul  7 17:51 ctrld.toml
drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        1.4K Jul  7 17:53 ..
-rw-------    1 root     root        5.0M Jul 10 19:40 ctrld.log.1
drwxr-x---    2 root     root         448 Jul 10 19:40 .
-rw-------    1 root     root      127.5K Jul 10 19:55 ctrld.log

But deleting the files and starting with silent flag is again creating log files:

root@OpenWrt:~# ps | grep ctrld | grep -v grep
20394 root     1251m S    /usr/sbin/ctrld run --silent --cd xxxxxxxxx --iface=auto --homedir=/etc/controld --config=/etc/controld/ctrld.toml

root@OpenWrt:~# ls -alrth /etc/controld/
drwxr-x---    2 root     root         304 Jul 10 19:58 .
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        2.4K Jul 10 19:58 ctrld.toml
drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        1.4K Jul 10 19:58 ..
-rw-------    1 root     root       50.7K Jul 10 20:01 ctrld.log

It's also logging on debug level so a constant writing stream to flash storage, not sure if that is also the default setting for the new log functionality of 1.5.1?

[matrix8967]

Thanks for the follow up.

But deleting the files and starting with silent flag is again creating log files...
...It's also logging on debug level so a constant writing stream to flash storage, not sure if that is also the default setting for the new log functionality of 1.5.1?...

Thanks - This is different from what I'm seeing on my GL.iNet device (running 23.05-SNAPSHOT) so I'll try to reproduce this with another device/VM

For reference - here's my output after stopping ctrld, removing the log files, and starting the service again w/ the --silent flag:

root@interceptor:~# ps | grep ctrld | grep -v grep
14828 root     1315m S    /usr/sbin/ctrld run --silent --cd=XXYYZZ -vv --iface=auto --homedir=/etc/controld --config=/etc/controld/ctrld.toml

root@interceptor:~# ls -alrth /etc/controld/
-rw-------    1 root     root           0 Jul 10 14:09 ctrld.log
drwx------    2 root     root         304 Jul 10 14:09 .
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        3.2K Jul 10 14:09 ctrld.toml
drwxrwxr-x    1 root     root        4.7K Jul 10 14:09 ..

root@interceptor:~# cat /etc/controld/ctrld.log

^^ I see a /etc/controld/ctrld.log file created - however there are no contents, unlike yours...

I can't imagine it matters - but what device are you running OpenWRT 25.12.5 on? 🤔

[matrix8967]

Sorry for the double-post but I managed to track down the cause of what you're seeing and why I'm not seeing it...

It seems that using the -vv flag is actually the culprit: When using -vv for additional output, this honors the --silent flag like we expect.

When I start ctrld without the -vv flag - I see what you're seeing: the --silent flag is ignored and the logs are written regardless.

I've already got all this added to our dev board for the team on Monday - we should have a fix out soon. Hopefully in the next ctrld 1.5.4 release - but no promises.

Here's the output I see after stopping ctrld and starting it again without the -vv flag:

root@interceptor:~# ctrld stop --pin=8967 -vv
Jul 10 20:30:39.000 INF loading config file from: /etc/controld/ctrld.toml
Jul 10 20:30:39.551 DBG Checking deactivation pin
Jul 10 20:30:39.552 DBG Creating control client
Jul 10 20:30:39.601 DBG Control client done
Jul 10 20:30:39.602 DBG Posting deactivation request
Jul 10 20:30:40.262 DBG Posting deactivation request done
Jul 10 20:30:40.262 DBG Running task Stop
Jul 10 20:30:41.352 NTC Service stopped

root@interceptor:~# ctrld start --silent --cd=XXYYZZ

root@interceptor:~# ctrld status
Jul 10 20:31:13.000 NTC Service is running

root@interceptor:~# ps | grep ctrld | grep -v grep
21446 root     1251m S    /usr/sbin/ctrld run --silent --cd=XXYYZZ --iface=auto --homedir=/etc/controld --config=/etc/controld/ctrld.toml

root@interceptor:~# ls -alrth /etc/controld/
drwx------    2 root     root         304 Jul 10 15:30 .
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        3.2K Jul 10 15:30 ctrld.toml
-rw-------    1 root     root        8.4K Jul 10 15:30 ctrld.log
drwxrwxr-x    1 root     root        4.7K Jul 10 15:30 ..

root@interceptor:~# cat /etc/controld/ctrld.log
{"level":"info","time":"2026-07-10T20:30:57Z.707","message":"starting ctrld v1.5.3"}
{"level":"info","time":"2026-07-10T20:30:57Z.709","message":"os: linux 5.4.213"}
{"level":"info","mode":"cd","time":"2026-07-10T20:30:57Z.710","message":"fetching Controld D configuration from API:... <snip>

Try using ctrld start --silent --cd=$RESOLVER-ID-HERE -vv and check if your /etc/controld/ctrld.log file stays at 0kb file size?

[Mntz]

Hello,

Just tested with adding the -vv flag and can confirm your finding. Logging has stopped now.
Thanks for your help with troubleshooting, it's really appreciated.

[matrix8967]

Hello,

Just tested with adding the -vv flag and can confirm your finding. Logging has stopped now. Thanks for your help with troubleshooting, it's really appreciated.

Awesome - thanks for the update.

I'll leave this open for now as we get a fix delivered, just in case others run into this and end up in this thread.

Thanks for the report and follow up!