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I am just looking through a log of system activity in messages. The name of the kernel has changed shortly after the installation:

Oct 10 09:10:12 keira rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="4.5.3" x-pid="570" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] exiting on signal 15.

Oct 11 15:18:42 leopold kernel: imklog 4.6.4, log source = /proc/kmsg started.

Oct 11 15:18:62 leopold rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="4.5.3" x-pid="571" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] (re)start

What could cause this? Is the kernel just named after the computer name and the user has changed the computer name? I think the change has just taken place after the OS was installed from a USB stick.

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1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

What you're seeing is the hostname of the machine. So if the hostname was changed to become 'leopold' from 'keira', then that is the change.

The kernel itself hasnt changed.

kernel: imklog 4.6.4, log source = /proc/kmsg started.

This is just a kernel message, ignoring the hostname is fine in this case, that's a message saying that was started. The other messages are the same.

On mine, my system was called 'kahless' and is now called 'gallifrey'. the same change occurred on mine too.

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Hi, when you say "hostname" is it similar to the windows "computer name" as in something the user can decide to label their computer with and used for network identicfication? – Sally May 29 '12 at 20:29
Roughly, yes, this is used on the network to identify a computer ( in the broad sense, it can be a router, a phone with wifi, etc ) – Misc May 29 '12 at 20:50
@Sally the 'hostname' has multiple connotations within the tech world. It can be used to identify an exact internet address (such as www.google.com), or in a more local-networking sense, the name of another computer (thissystem.local or thissystem.home, for instance, on residential networks, thissystem.corporate for some corporate networks, etc.) – The Lord of Time May 30 '12 at 12:43

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