NAMED-JOURNALPRINT(1) | BIND 9 | NAMED-JOURNALPRINT(1)

# NAME

named-journalprint - print zone journal in human-readable form

# SYNOPSIS

named-journalprint [-c serial] [-dux] {journal}

# DESCRIPTION

named-journalprint scans the contents of a zone journal file, printing it in a human-readable form, or, optionally, converting it to a different journal file format.

Journal files are automatically created by named when changes are made to dynamic zones (e.g., by nsupdate). They record each addition or deletion of a resource record, in binary format, allowing the changes to be re-applied to the zone when the server is restarted after a shutdown or crash. By default, the name of the journal file is formed by appending the extension .jnl to the name of the corresponding zone file.

named-journalprint converts the contents of a given journal file into a human-readable text format. Each line begins with add or del, to indicate whether the record was added or deleted, and continues with the resource record in master-file format.

The -c (compact) option provides a mechanism to reduce the size of a journal by removing (most/all) transactions prior to the specified serial number. Note: this option must not be used while named is running, and can cause data loss if the zone file has not been updated to contain the data being removed from the journal. Use with extreme caution.

The -x option causes additional data about the journal file to be printed at the beginning of the output and before each group of changes.

The -u (upgrade) and -d (downgrade) options recreate the journal file with a modified format version. The existing journal file is replaced. -d writes out the journal in the format used by versions of BIND up to 9.16.11; -u writes it out in the format used by versions since 9.16.13. (9.16.12 is omitted due to a journal-formatting bug in that release.) Note that these options must not be used while named is running.

# SEE ALSO

named(8), nsupdate(1), BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual.

# AUTHOR

Internet Systems Consortium

# COPYRIGHT

2026, Internet Systems Consortium

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