diff --git a/linux/system-config/logrotate-qubes b/linux/system-config/logrotate-qubes
index 5daf1aeb..d8ac0187 100644
--- a/linux/system-config/logrotate-qubes
+++ b/linux/system-config/logrotate-qubes
@@ -5,12 +5,3 @@
         /bin/systemctl restart qubes-qmemman.service >/dev/null 2>/dev/null || true
     endscript
 }
-
-/var/log/qubes/qubes.log {
-    create 0640 root qubes
-    su root qubes
-}
-
-/var/log/qubes/vm-*.log {
-    su root qubes
-}
diff --git a/qubes/app.py b/qubes/app.py
index 5f0cd97c..ce0e029e 100644
--- a/qubes/app.py
+++ b/qubes/app.py
@@ -1486,7 +1486,7 @@ class Qubes(qubes.PropertyHolder):
                         raise qubes.exc.QubesVMInUseError(
                             vm,
                             'Domain is in use: {!r};'
-                            'see /var/log/qubes/qubes.log in dom0 for '
+                            "see 'journalctl -u qubesd -e' in dom0 for "
                             'details'.format(
                                 vm.name))
                 except AttributeError:
diff --git a/qubes/log.py b/qubes/log.py
index 6d0866e1..938925cf 100644
--- a/qubes/log.py
+++ b/qubes/log.py
@@ -24,20 +24,23 @@ See also: :py:attr:`qubes.vm.qubesvm.QubesVM.log`
 '''
 
 import logging
-import logging.handlers
-import os
 import sys
-import fcntl
 
-FORMAT_CONSOLE = '%(message)s'
-FORMAT_LOG = '%(asctime)s %(message)s'
-FORMAT_DEBUG = '%(asctime)s ' \
-    '[%(processName)s %(module)s.%(funcName)s:%(lineno)d] %(name)s: %(message)s'
-LOGPATH = '/var/log/qubes'
 
-formatter_console = logging.Formatter(FORMAT_CONSOLE)
-formatter_log = logging.Formatter(FORMAT_LOG)
-formatter_debug = logging.Formatter(FORMAT_DEBUG)
+class Formatter(logging.Formatter):
+    def __init__(self, *args, debug=False, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        self.debug = debug
+
+    def formatMessage(self, record):
+        fmt = ''
+        if self.debug:
+            fmt += '[%(processName)s %(module)s.%(funcName)s:%(lineno)d] '
+        if self.debug or record.name.startswith('vm.'):
+            fmt += '%(name)s: '
+        fmt += '%(message)s'
+
+        return fmt % record.__dict__
 
 
 def enable():
@@ -55,25 +58,9 @@ def enable():
         return
 
     handler_console = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stderr)
-    handler_console.setFormatter(formatter_console)
+    handler_console.setFormatter(Formatter())
     logging.root.addHandler(handler_console)
 
-    if os.path.exists('/var/log/qubes'):
-        log_path = '/var/log/qubes/qubes.log'
-    else:
-        # for tests, travis etc
-        log_path = '/tmp/qubes.log'
-    old_umask = os.umask(0o007)
-    try:
-        handler_log = logging.handlers.WatchedFileHandler(
-            log_path, 'a', encoding='utf-8')
-        fcntl.fcntl(handler_log.stream.fileno(),
-            fcntl.F_SETFD, fcntl.FD_CLOEXEC)
-    finally:
-        os.umask(old_umask)
-    handler_log.setFormatter(formatter_log)
-    logging.root.addHandler(handler_log)
-
     logging.root.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 
 def enable_debug():
@@ -83,10 +70,11 @@ def enable_debug():
     '''
 
     enable()
-    logging.root.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
     for handler in logging.root.handlers:
-        handler.setFormatter(formatter_debug)
+        handler.setFormatter(Formatter(debug=True))
+
+    logging.root.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
 def get_vm_logger(vmname):
     '''Initialise logging for particular VM name
@@ -95,18 +83,4 @@ def get_vm_logger(vmname):
     :rtype: :py:class:`logging.Logger`
     '''
 
-    logger = logging.getLogger('vm.' + vmname)
-    if logger.handlers:
-        return logger
-    old_umask = os.umask(0o007)
-    try:
-        handler = logging.handlers.WatchedFileHandler(
-            os.path.join(LOGPATH, 'vm-{}.log'.format(vmname)))
-        fcntl.fcntl(handler.stream.fileno(),
-            fcntl.F_SETFD, fcntl.FD_CLOEXEC)
-    finally:
-        os.umask(old_umask)
-    handler.setFormatter(formatter_log)
-    logger.addHandler(handler)
-
-    return logger
+    return logging.getLogger('vm.' + vmname)
diff --git a/qubes/tests/__init__.py b/qubes/tests/__init__.py
index 03ddc86b..6b736626 100644
--- a/qubes/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/qubes/tests/__init__.py
@@ -105,7 +105,6 @@ try:
     in_git = subprocess.check_output(
         ['git', 'rev-parse', '--show-toplevel'], stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL
     ).decode().strip()
-    qubes.log.LOGPATH = '/tmp'
 except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
     # git returned nonzero, we are outside git repo
     pass