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Annotation of 42BSD/usr.lib/sendmail/aux/syslog.8, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: .TH SYSLOG 8
        !             2: .SH NAME
        !             3: syslog \- log systems messages
        !             4: .SH SYNOPSIS
        !             5: /etc/syslog [
        !             6: .BI \-m N
        !             7: ] [
        !             8: .BI \-f name
        !             9: ]
        !            10: .SH DESCRIPTION
        !            11: .I Syslog
        !            12: reads datagrams from an IPC port
        !            13: (currently port 2222, for no good reason)
        !            14: and logs each line it reads into a set of files
        !            15: described by the configuration file
        !            16: /etc/syslog.conf.
        !            17: .I Syslog
        !            18: configures when it starts up
        !            19: and whenever it receives a hangup signal.
        !            20: .PP
        !            21: Each message is one line.
        !            22: A message can contain a priority code,
        !            23: marked by a digit in angle braces
        !            24: at the beginning of the line.
        !            25: Priorities are defined in <syslog.h>, as follows:
        !            26: .IP LOG_ALERT \w'LOG_WARNING'u+2n
        !            27: this priority should essentially never
        !            28: be used.  It applies only to messages that
        !            29: are so important that every user should be
        !            30: aware of them, e.g., a serious hardware failure.
        !            31: .IP LOG_SALERT
        !            32: messages of this priority should be
        !            33: issued only when immediate attention is needed
        !            34: by a qualified system person, e.g., when some
        !            35: valuable system resource dissappears.  They get
        !            36: sent to a list of system people.
        !            37: .IP LOG_EMERG
        !            38: Emergency messages are not sent to users,
        !            39: but represent major conditions.  An example
        !            40: might be hard disk failures.  These could be
        !            41: logged in a separate file so that critical
        !            42: conditions could be easily scanned.
        !            43: .IP LOG_ERR
        !            44: these represent error conditions, such as soft
        !            45: disk failures, etc.
        !            46: .IP LOG_CRIT
        !            47: such messages contain critical information,
        !            48: but which can not be classed as errors, for example,
        !            49: 'su' attempts.
        !            50: Messages of this priority and higher
        !            51: are typically logged on the system console.
        !            52: .IP LOG_WARNING
        !            53: issued when an abnormal condition has been
        !            54: detected, but recovery can take place.
        !            55: .IP LOG_NOTICE
        !            56: something that falls in the class of
        !            57: "important information"; this class is informational
        !            58: but important enough that you don't want to throw
        !            59: it away casually.
        !            60: Messages without any priority assigned to them
        !            61: are typically mapped into this priority.
        !            62: .IP LOG_INFO
        !            63: information level messages.  These messages
        !            64: could be thrown away without problems, but should
        !            65: be included if you want to keep a close watch on
        !            66: your system.
        !            67: .IP LOG_DEBUG
        !            68: it may be useful to log certain debugging
        !            69: information.  Normally this will be thrown away.
        !            70: .PP
        !            71: It is expected that the kernel will not log anything below
        !            72: LOG_ERR priority.
        !            73: (Note: kernel logging is not implemented at this time.)
        !            74: .PP
        !            75: The configuration file is in two sections
        !            76: seperated by a blank line.
        !            77: The first section defines files that
        !            78: .I syslog
        !            79: will log into.
        !            80: Each line contains
        !            81: a single digit which defines the lowest priority
        !            82: (highest numbered priority)
        !            83: that this file will receive,
        !            84: an optional asterisk
        !            85: which guarantees that something gets output
        !            86: at least every 20 minutes,
        !            87: and a pathname.
        !            88: The second part of the file
        !            89: contains a list of users that will be
        !            90: informed on SALERT level messages.
        !            91: For example, the configuration file:
        !            92: .nf
        !            93: 
        !            94:        5*/dev/console
        !            95:        8/usr/spool/adm/syslog
        !            96:        3/usr/adm/critical
        !            97: 
        !            98:        eric
        !            99:        kridle
        !           100:        kalash
        !           101: 
        !           102: .fi
        !           103: logs all messages of priority 5 or higher
        !           104: onto the system console,
        !           105: including timing marks every 20 minutes;
        !           106: all messages of priority 8 or higher
        !           107: into the file /usr/spool/adm/syslog;
        !           108: and all messages of priority 3 or higher
        !           109: into /usr/adm/critical.
        !           110: The users ``eric'', ``kridle'', and ``kalash''
        !           111: will be informed on any subalert messages.
        !           112: .PP
        !           113: The flags are:
        !           114: .IP \-m 0.5i
        !           115: Set the mark interval to
        !           116: .I N
        !           117: (default 20 minutes).
        !           118: .IP \-f
        !           119: Specify an alternate configuration file.
        !           120: .IP \-d
        !           121: Turn on debugging (if compiled in).
        !           122: .PP
        !           123: To bring
        !           124: .I syslog
        !           125: down,
        !           126: it should be sent a terminate signal.
        !           127: It logs that it is going down
        !           128: and then waits approximately 30 seconds
        !           129: for any additional messages to come in.
        !           130: .PP
        !           131: There are some special messages that cause control functions.
        !           132: ``<*>N'' sets the default message priority to
        !           133: .I N.
        !           134: ``<$>'' causes
        !           135: .I syslog
        !           136: to reconfigure
        !           137: (equivalent to a hangup signal).
        !           138: This can be used in a shell file run automatically
        !           139: early in the morning to truncate the log.
        !           140: .SH FILES
        !           141: /etc/syslog.conf \- the configuration file
        !           142: .SH BUGS
        !           143: LOG_ALERT and LOG_SUBALERT messages
        !           144: should only be allowed to privileged programs.
        !           145: .PP
        !           146: Actually,
        !           147: .I syslog
        !           148: is not clever enough to deal with kernel error messages.
        !           149: .SH SEE\ ALSO
        !           150: syslog(3)

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