# Determine the Reason for Pod Failure — Customizing the termination message

> Kubernetes retrieves termination messages from the termination message file specified in the terminationMessagePath field of a Container, which has a default value of /dev/termination-log.

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-kubernetes-eb30fff5420a9db2dcd9>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:14.496946+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `kubernetes`, `tasks`, `debug`, `debug-application`, `determine`, `reason`, `pod`, `failure`, `customizing`, `termination`, `message`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/kubernetes/website/blob/6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3/content/en/docs/tasks/debug/debug-application/determine-reason-pod-failure.md>
- Source name: Kubernetes Documentation
- Source revision: `6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3`
- Source license: `CC-BY-4.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

Kubernetes retrieves termination messages from the termination message file specified in the terminationMessagePath field of a Container, which has a default value of /dev/termination-log. By customizing this field, you can tell Kubernetes to use a different file. Kubernetes use the contents from the specified file to populate the Container's status message on both success and failure.

The termination message is intended to be brief final status, such as an assertion failure message. The kubelet truncates messages that are longer than 4096 bytes.

The total message length across all containers is limited to 12KiB, divided equally among each container. For example, if there are 12 containers (initContainers or containers), each has 1024 bytes of available termination message space.

The default termination message path is /dev/termination-log. You cannot set the termination message path after a Pod is launched.

In the following example, the container writes termination messages to /tmp/my-log for Kubernetes to retrieve

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: msg-path-demo
spec:
  containers:
  - name: msg-path-demo-container
    image: debian
    terminationMessagePath: "/tmp/my-log"
```

Moreover, users can set the terminationMessagePolicy field of a Container for further customization. This field defaults to "File" which means the termination messages are retrieved only from the termination message file. By setting the terminationMessagePolicy to "FallbackToLogsOnError", you can tell Kubernetes to use the last chunk of container log output if the termination message file is empty and the container exited with an error. The log output is limited to 2048 bytes or 80 lines, whichever is smaller.

Attribution: Adapted from Kubernetes Documentation under CC-BY-4.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.