diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 26148ce1c7..10f8bffd23 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ CHANGES WITH 259 in spe:
           command to add recovery keys to existing user accounts. Previously,
           recovery keys could only be configured during initial user creation.
 
+        * The default storage mode for the journal is now 'persistent'.
+          Previously, the default was 'auto', so the presence or lack of
+          /var/log/journal determined the default storage mode, if no
+          overriding configuration was provided. The default can be changed
+          with -Djournal-storage-default=.
+
 CHANGES WITH 258:
 
         Incompatible changes:
diff --git a/man/custom-entities.ent.in b/man/custom-entities.ent.in
index 9ec6ef92cc..1f3ecefe61 100644
--- a/man/custom-entities.ent.in
+++ b/man/custom-entities.ent.in
@@ -10,13 +10,14 @@
 <!ENTITY FALLBACK_HOSTNAME "{{FALLBACK_HOSTNAME}}">
 <!ENTITY MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT "{{ 'yes' if MEMORY_ACCOUNTING_DEFAULT else 'no' }}">
 <!ENTITY KILL_USER_PROCESSES "{{ 'yes' if KILL_USER_PROCESSES else 'no' }}">
+<!ENTITY JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT "{{JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT}}">
 <!ENTITY DEBUGTTY "{{DEBUGTTY}}">
 <!ENTITY SYSTEM_SYSVRCLOCAL_PATH "{{SYSTEM_SYSVRCLOCAL_PATH}}">
 <!ENTITY HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE "{{HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE}}">
 <!ENTITY DEFAULT_DNSSEC_MODE "{{DEFAULT_DNSSEC_MODE_STR}}">
 <!ENTITY DEFAULT_DNS_OVER_TLS_MODE "{{DEFAULT_DNS_OVER_TLS_MODE_STR}}">
-<!ENTITY DEFAULT_TIMEOUT "{{DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_SEC}} s">
-<!ENTITY DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT "{{DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT_SEC}} s">
-<!ENTITY DEFAULT_KEYMAP "{{SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_KEYMAP}}">
+<!ENTITY DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_SEC "{{DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_SEC}} s">
+<!ENTITY DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT_SEC "{{DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT_SEC}} s">
+<!ENTITY SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_KEYMAP "{{SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_KEYMAP}}">
 <!ENTITY fedora_latest_version "43">
 <!ENTITY fedora_cloud_release "1.6">
diff --git a/man/journald.conf.xml b/man/journald.conf.xml
index 1d615b110d..322fe6d17b 100644
--- a/man/journald.conf.xml
+++ b/man/journald.conf.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 <?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
-  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
+  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
+<!ENTITY % entities SYSTEM "custom-entities.ent" >
+%entities;
+]>
 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
 
 <refentry id="journald.conf"
@@ -82,8 +85,9 @@
         <filename>/var/log/journal</filename> directory exists, and <literal>volatile</literal> otherwise
         (the existence of the directory controls the storage mode). <literal>none</literal> turns off all
         storage, all log data received will be dropped (but forwarding to other targets, such as the console,
-        the kernel log buffer, or a syslog socket will still work). Defaults to <literal>auto</literal> in
-        the default journal namespace, and <literal>persistent</literal> in all others.</para>
+        the kernel log buffer, or a syslog socket will still work). Defaults to
+        <literal>&JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT;</literal> in the default journal namespace (this value is
+        determined at compilation time), and <literal>persistent</literal> in all others.</para>
 
         <para>Note that journald will initially use volatile storage, until a call to
         <command>journalctl --flush</command> (or sending <constant>SIGUSR1</constant> to journald) will cause
diff --git a/man/systemd-system.conf.xml b/man/systemd-system.conf.xml
index d3c345dbb4..b7fe53dc9c 100644
--- a/man/systemd-system.conf.xml
+++ b/man/systemd-system.conf.xml
@@ -581,9 +581,9 @@
         </para>
 
         <para><varname>DefaultTimeoutStartSec=</varname> and <varname>DefaultTimeoutStopSec=</varname>
-        default to &DEFAULT_TIMEOUT; in the system manager and &DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT; in the user manager.
-        <varname>DefaultTimeoutAbortSec=</varname> is not set by default so that all units fall back to
-        <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>. <varname>DefaultRestartSec=</varname> defaults to 100 ms.
+        default to &DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_SEC; in the system manager and &DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT_SEC; in the user
+        manager. <varname>DefaultTimeoutAbortSec=</varname> is not set by default so that all units fall back
+        to <varname>TimeoutStopSec=</varname>. <varname>DefaultRestartSec=</varname> defaults to 100 ms.
         </para>
 
         <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v209"/></listitem>
@@ -597,8 +597,8 @@
         and <filename>/etc/crypttab</filename> (see
         <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
         <citerefentry><refentrytitle>crypttab</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
-        Defaults to &DEFAULT_TIMEOUT; in the system manager and &DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT; in the user manager.
-        </para>
+        Defaults to &DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_SEC; in the system manager and &DEFAULT_USER_TIMEOUT_SEC; in the user
+        manager.</para>
 
         <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v252"/></listitem>
       </varlistentry>
diff --git a/man/vconsole.conf.xml b/man/vconsole.conf.xml
index 5b3524d729..e5e160cf3d 100644
--- a/man/vconsole.conf.xml
+++ b/man/vconsole.conf.xml
@@ -75,11 +75,11 @@
         <term><varname>KEYMAP=</varname></term>
         <term><varname>KEYMAP_TOGGLE=</varname></term>
 
-        <listitem><para>Configures the key mapping table for the keyboard.  <varname>KEYMAP=</varname>
-        defaults to <literal>&DEFAULT_KEYMAP;</literal> if not set. Specially, if <literal>@kernel</literal>
-        is specified, no keymap will be loaded, i.e. the kernel's default keymap is used.  The
-        <varname>KEYMAP_TOGGLE=</varname> can be used to configure a second toggle keymap and is by default
-        unset.</para></listitem>
+        <listitem><para>Configures the key mapping table for the keyboard. <varname>KEYMAP=</varname>
+        defaults to <literal>&SYSTEMD_DEFAULT_KEYMAP;</literal> if not set. As a special case, if
+        <literal>@kernel</literal> is specified, no keymap will be loaded, i.e. the kernel's default keymap
+        will be used. The <varname>KEYMAP_TOGGLE=</varname> can be used to configure a second toggle keymap
+        and is by default unset.</para></listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
       <varlistentry>
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 599d2a3217..055ee31ee4 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ conf.set10('BUMP_PROC_SYS_FS_FILE_MAX', get_option('bump-proc-sys-fs-file-max'))
 conf.set10('BUMP_PROC_SYS_FS_NR_OPEN',  get_option('bump-proc-sys-fs-nr-open'))
 conf.set('HIGH_RLIMIT_NOFILE',          512*1024)
 
+conf.set('JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT',     get_option('journal-storage-default'))
+conf.set('JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT_VAL', 'STORAGE_' + get_option('journal-storage-default').to_upper())
+
 # Meson ignores the preceding arguments when joining paths if an absolute
 # component is encountered, so this should canonicalize various paths when they
 # are absolute or relative.
@@ -3096,6 +3099,7 @@ summary({
         'default locale'                            : default_locale,
         'default nspawn locale'                     : nspawn_locale,
         'default status unit format'                : status_unit_format_default,
+        'default journal storage mode'              : conf.get('JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT'),
         'default user $PATH'                        : default_user_path != '' ? default_user_path : '(same as system services)',
         'systemd service watchdog'                  : service_watchdog == '' ? 'disabled' : service_watchdog,
         'time epoch'                                : f'@time_epoch@ (@alt_time_epoch@)',
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 1d7c4f4bd2..4ce3c7faca 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -139,6 +139,8 @@ option('timedated', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'install the systemd-timedated daemon')
 option('timesyncd', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'install the systemd-timesyncd daemon')
+option('journal-storage-default', type : 'combo', choices : ['persistent', 'auto', 'volatile', 'none'],
+       description : 'default storage mode for journald (main namespace)')
 option('remote', type : 'feature', deprecated : { 'true' : 'enabled', 'false' : 'disabled' },
        description : 'support for "journal over the network"')
 option('create-log-dirs', type : 'boolean',
diff --git a/src/journal/journald-config.c b/src/journal/journald-config.c
index 8cffec880b..b524379b5c 100644
--- a/src/journal/journald-config.c
+++ b/src/journal/journald-config.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "conf-parser.h"
 #include "creds-util.h"
 #include "daemon-util.h"
+#include "initrd-util.h"
 #include "journald-audit.h"
 #include "journald-config.h"
 #include "journald-context.h"
@@ -116,7 +117,12 @@ void manager_merge_configs(Manager *m) {
 
         journal_config_done(&m->config);
 
-        MERGE_NON_NEGATIVE(storage, STORAGE_AUTO);
+        MERGE_NON_NEGATIVE(storage, JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT_VAL);
+
+        /* In the initrd, only 'none' and 'volatile' make sense. */
+        if (in_initrd() && IN_SET(m->config.storage, STORAGE_PERSISTENT, STORAGE_AUTO))
+                m->config.storage = STORAGE_VOLATILE;
+
         manager_merge_journal_compress_options(m);
         MERGE_NON_NEGATIVE(seal, true);
         /* By default, /dev/kmsg is read only by the main namespace instance. */
diff --git a/src/journal/journald.conf b/src/journal/journald.conf.in
similarity index 97%
rename from src/journal/journald.conf
rename to src/journal/journald.conf.in
index 9a12ca7657..805b79bc8a 100644
--- a/src/journal/journald.conf
+++ b/src/journal/journald.conf.in
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 # See journald.conf(5) for details.
 
 [Journal]
-#Storage=auto
+#Storage={{ JOURNAL_STORAGE_DEFAULT }}
 #Compress=yes
 #Seal=yes
 #SplitMode=uid
diff --git a/src/journal/meson.build b/src/journal/meson.build
index 364c4ce7bf..7f35421e15 100644
--- a/src/journal/meson.build
+++ b/src/journal/meson.build
@@ -153,10 +153,12 @@ executables += [
         },
 ]
 
-if install_sysconfdir_samples
-        install_data('journald.conf',
-                     install_dir : pkgconfigfiledir)
-endif
+custom_target(
+        input : 'journald.conf.in',
+        output: 'journald.conf',
+        command : [jinja2_cmdline, '@INPUT@', '@OUTPUT@'],
+        install : install_sysconfdir_samples,
+        install_dir : pkgconfigfiledir)
 
 if get_option('create-log-dirs')
         install_emptydir('/var/log/journal',