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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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