What does the kernel ring buffer record?

The kernel ring buffer serves as a crucial logging mechanism for the Linux kernel, capturing messages that provide insights into the operations and performance of the kernel itself. These messages typically include information about system events, such as device initializations, driver loading, and system errors. The ring buffer is designed to hold a limited amount of data, allowing the most recent kernel messages to be kept while older messages wrap around and are overwritten.

By monitoring the kernel ring buffer, system administrators and developers can troubleshoot issues related to hardware, drivers, and the kernel's behavior without needing to rely on external logging mechanisms. This makes it invaluable for diagnosing system problems and understanding kernel-level activity.

While other aspects of system logging, such as user applications and hardware configuration changes, provide useful information, they are not recorded in the kernel ring buffer specifically. Instead, these other types of logs typically have their own separate logging systems and files.