Journalctl uses less as a pager by default, you can set the env variable SYSTEMD_PAGER to specifiy what pager to use (or just PAGER) and SYSTEMD_LESS to specify

Journalctl uses less as a pager by default, you can set the env variable SYSTEMD_PAGER to specifiy what pager to use (or just PAGER) and SYSTEMD_LESS to specify parameters to pass to less. journalctl has no own pager implementation and if no pager is installed then none is used. I give you validation and error messages, systemd is a bit sparse on that front. Would be easier if there was a way for programs and services to signal back error messages to report. edit: You can actually enforce non-wrapping by setting SYSTEMD_LESS to FRXMK (the S option that is otherwise included causes truncating, if omitted you get wrapping) This can all be configured in /etc/profile, .bashrc and friends