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

1.1     ! root        1: .TH SYSLOG 8
        !             2: .\"    @(#)syslog.8    4.1             7/25/83
        !             3: .SH NAME
        !             4: syslog \- log systems messages
        !             5: .SH SYNOPSIS
        !             6: /etc/syslog [
        !             7: .BI \-m N
        !             8: ] [
        !             9: .BI \-f name
        !            10: ] [
        !            11: .B \-d
        !            12: ]
        !            13: .SH DESCRIPTION
        !            14: .I Syslog
        !            15: reads a datagram socket
        !            16: and logs each line it reads into a set of files
        !            17: described by the configuration file
        !            18: /etc/syslog.conf.
        !            19: .I Syslog
        !            20: configures when it starts up
        !            21: and whenever it receives a hangup signal.
        !            22: .PP
        !            23: Each message is one line.
        !            24: A message can contain a priority code,
        !            25: marked by a digit in angle braces
        !            26: at the beginning of the line.
        !            27: Priorities are defined in <syslog.h>, as follows:
        !            28: .IP LOG_ALERT \w'LOG_WARNING'u+2n
        !            29: this priority should essentially never
        !            30: be used.  It applies only to messages that
        !            31: are so important that every user should be
        !            32: aware of them, e.g., a serious hardware failure.
        !            33: .IP LOG_SALERT
        !            34: messages of this priority should be
        !            35: issued only when immediate attention is needed
        !            36: by a qualified system person, e.g., when some
        !            37: valuable system resource dissappears.  They get
        !            38: sent to a list of system people.
        !            39: .IP LOG_EMERG
        !            40: Emergency messages are not sent to users,
        !            41: but represent major conditions.  An example
        !            42: might be hard disk failures.  These could be
        !            43: logged in a separate file so that critical
        !            44: conditions could be easily scanned.
        !            45: .IP LOG_ERR
        !            46: these represent error conditions, such as soft
        !            47: disk failures, etc.
        !            48: .IP LOG_CRIT
        !            49: such messages contain critical information,
        !            50: but which can not be classed as errors, for example,
        !            51: 'su' attempts.
        !            52: Messages of this priority and higher
        !            53: are typically logged on the system console.
        !            54: .IP LOG_WARNING
        !            55: issued when an abnormal condition has been
        !            56: detected, but recovery can take place.
        !            57: .IP LOG_NOTICE
        !            58: something that falls in the class of
        !            59: "important information"; this class is informational
        !            60: but important enough that you don't want to throw
        !            61: it away casually.
        !            62: Messages without any priority assigned to them
        !            63: are typically mapped into this priority.
        !            64: .IP LOG_INFO
        !            65: information level messages.  These messages
        !            66: could be thrown away without problems, but should
        !            67: be included if you want to keep a close watch on
        !            68: your system.
        !            69: .IP LOG_DEBUG
        !            70: it may be useful to log certain debugging
        !            71: information.  Normally this will be thrown away.
        !            72: .PP
        !            73: It is expected that the kernel will not log anything below
        !            74: LOG_ERR priority.
        !            75: .PP
        !            76: The configuration file is in two sections
        !            77: separated by a blank line.
        !            78: The first section defines files that
        !            79: .I syslog
        !            80: will log into.
        !            81: Each line contains
        !            82: a single digit which defines the lowest priority
        !            83: (highest numbered priority)
        !            84: that this file will receive,
        !            85: an optional asterisk
        !            86: which guarantees that something gets output
        !            87: at least every 20 minutes,
        !            88: and a pathname.
        !            89: The second part of the file
        !            90: contains a list of users that will be
        !            91: informed on SALERT level messages.
        !            92: For example, the configuration file:
        !            93: .nf
        !            94: 
        !            95:        5*/dev/tty8
        !            96:        8/usr/spool/adm/syslog
        !            97:        3/usr/adm/critical
        !            98: 
        !            99:        eric
        !           100:        kridle
        !           101:        kalash
        !           102: 
        !           103: .fi
        !           104: logs all messages of priority 5 or higher
        !           105: onto the system console,
        !           106: including timing marks every 20 minutes;
        !           107: all messages of priority 8 or higher
        !           108: into the file /usr/spool/adm/syslog;
        !           109: and all messages of priority 3 or higher
        !           110: into /usr/adm/critical.
        !           111: The users ``eric'', ``kridle'', and ``kalash''
        !           112: will be informed on any subalert messages.
        !           113: .PP
        !           114: The flags are:
        !           115: .IP \-m 0.5i
        !           116: Set the mark interval to
        !           117: .I N
        !           118: (default 20 minutes).
        !           119: .IP \-f
        !           120: Specify an alternate configuration file.
        !           121: .IP \-d
        !           122: Turn on debugging (if compiled in).
        !           123: .PP
        !           124: To bring
        !           125: .I syslog
        !           126: down,
        !           127: it should be sent a terminate signal.
        !           128: It logs that it is going down
        !           129: and then waits approximately 30 seconds
        !           130: for any additional messages to come in.
        !           131: .PP
        !           132: There are some special messages that cause control functions.
        !           133: ``<*>N'' sets the default message priority to
        !           134: .I N.
        !           135: ``<$>'' causes
        !           136: .I syslog
        !           137: to reconfigure
        !           138: (equivalent to a hangup signal).
        !           139: This can be used in a shell file run automatically
        !           140: early in the morning to truncate the log.
        !           141: .PP
        !           142: .I Syslog
        !           143: creates the file
        !           144: /etc/syslog.pid
        !           145: if possible
        !           146: containing a single line
        !           147: with its process id.
        !           148: This can be used to kill or reconfigure
        !           149: .I syslog.
        !           150: .PP
        !           151: .I Syslog
        !           152: can also be compiled to use
        !           153: .IR mpx (2)
        !           154: files instead of datagrams
        !           155: if you are running V7.
        !           156: In this case it creates and reads the file
        !           157: /dev/log.
        !           158: .SH FILES
        !           159: /etc/syslog.conf \- the configuration file
        !           160: .br
        !           161: /etc/syslog.pid \- the process id
        !           162: .br
        !           163: /dev/log \- under V7, the mpx file
        !           164: .SH BUGS
        !           165: LOG_ALERT and LOG_SUBALERT messages
        !           166: should only be allowed to privileged programs.
        !           167: .PP
        !           168: Actually,
        !           169: .I syslog
        !           170: is not clever enough to deal with kernel error messages
        !           171: in the current implementation.
        !           172: .SH SEE\ ALSO
        !           173: syslog(3)

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