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Annotation of cci/usr/src/man/man8/syslog.8, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: .TH SYSLOG 8
        !             2: .\"    @(#)syslog.8    4.2             7/28/83
        !             3: .UC 4
        !             4: .SH NAME
        !             5: syslog \- log systems messages
        !             6: .SH SYNOPSIS
        !             7: /etc/syslog [
        !             8: .BI \-m N
        !             9: ] [
        !            10: .BI \-f name
        !            11: ] [
        !            12: .B \-d
        !            13: ]
        !            14: .SH DESCRIPTION
        !            15: .I Syslog
        !            16: reads a datagram socket
        !            17: and logs each line it reads into a set of files
        !            18: described by the configuration file
        !            19: /etc/syslog.conf.
        !            20: .I Syslog
        !            21: configures when it starts up
        !            22: and whenever it receives a hangup signal.
        !            23: .PP
        !            24: Each message is one line.
        !            25: A message can contain a priority code,
        !            26: marked by a digit in angle braces
        !            27: at the beginning of the line.
        !            28: Priorities are defined in
        !            29: .RI < syslog.h >,
        !            30: as follows:
        !            31: .IP LOG_ALERT \w'LOG_WARNING'u+2n
        !            32: this priority should essentially never
        !            33: be used.  It applies only to messages that
        !            34: are so important that every user should be
        !            35: aware of them, e.g., a serious hardware failure.
        !            36: .IP LOG_SALERT
        !            37: messages of this priority should be
        !            38: issued only when immediate attention is needed
        !            39: by a qualified system person, e.g., when some
        !            40: valuable system resource dissappears.  They get
        !            41: sent to a list of system people.
        !            42: .IP LOG_EMERG
        !            43: Emergency messages are not sent to users,
        !            44: but represent major conditions.  An example
        !            45: might be hard disk failures.  These could be
        !            46: logged in a separate file so that critical
        !            47: conditions could be easily scanned.
        !            48: .IP LOG_ERR
        !            49: these represent error conditions, such as soft
        !            50: disk failures, etc.
        !            51: .IP LOG_CRIT
        !            52: such messages contain critical information,
        !            53: but which can not be classed as errors, for example,
        !            54: `su' attempts.
        !            55: Messages of this priority and higher
        !            56: are typically logged on the system console.
        !            57: .IP LOG_WARNING
        !            58: issued when an abnormal condition has been
        !            59: detected, but recovery can take place.
        !            60: .IP LOG_NOTICE
        !            61: something that falls in the class of
        !            62: ``important information''; this class is informational
        !            63: but important enough that you don't want to throw
        !            64: it away casually.
        !            65: Messages without any priority assigned to them
        !            66: are typically mapped into this priority.
        !            67: .IP LOG_INFO
        !            68: information level messages.  These messages
        !            69: could be thrown away without problems, but should
        !            70: be included if you want to keep a close watch on
        !            71: your system.
        !            72: .IP LOG_DEBUG
        !            73: it may be useful to log certain debugging
        !            74: information.  Normally this will be thrown away.
        !            75: .PP
        !            76: It is expected that the kernel will not log anything below
        !            77: LOG_ERR priority.
        !            78: .PP
        !            79: The configuration file is in two sections
        !            80: separated by a blank line.
        !            81: The first section defines files that
        !            82: .I syslog
        !            83: will log into.
        !            84: Each line contains
        !            85: a single digit which defines the lowest priority
        !            86: (highest numbered priority)
        !            87: that this file will receive,
        !            88: an optional asterisk
        !            89: which guarantees that something gets output
        !            90: at least every 20 minutes,
        !            91: and a pathname.
        !            92: The second part of the file
        !            93: contains a list of users that will be
        !            94: informed on SALERT level messages.
        !            95: For example, the configuration file:
        !            96: .nf
        !            97: 
        !            98:        5*/dev/console
        !            99:        8/usr/spool/adm/syslog
        !           100:        3/usr/adm/critical
        !           101: 
        !           102:        eric
        !           103:        kridle
        !           104:        kalash
        !           105: 
        !           106: .fi
        !           107: logs all messages of priority 5 or higher
        !           108: onto the system console,
        !           109: including timing marks every 20 minutes;
        !           110: all messages of priority 8 or higher
        !           111: into the file /usr/spool/adm/syslog;
        !           112: and all messages of priority 3 or higher
        !           113: into /usr/adm/critical.
        !           114: The users ``eric'', ``kridle'', and ``kalash''
        !           115: will be informed on any subalert messages.
        !           116: .PP
        !           117: The flags are:
        !           118: .TP 0.5i
        !           119: .B \-m
        !           120: Set the mark interval to
        !           121: .I N
        !           122: (default 20 minutes).
        !           123: .TP
        !           124: .B \-f
        !           125: Specify an alternate configuration file.
        !           126: .TP
        !           127: .B \-d
        !           128: Turn on debugging (if compiled in).
        !           129: .PP
        !           130: To bring
        !           131: .I syslog
        !           132: down,
        !           133: it should be sent a terminate signal.
        !           134: It logs that it is going down
        !           135: and then waits approximately 30 seconds
        !           136: for any additional messages to come in.
        !           137: .PP
        !           138: There are some special messages that cause control functions.
        !           139: ``<*>N'' sets the default message priority to
        !           140: .I N.
        !           141: ``<$>'' causes
        !           142: .I syslog
        !           143: to reconfigure
        !           144: (equivalent to a hangup signal).
        !           145: This can be used in a shell file run automatically
        !           146: early in the morning to truncate the log.
        !           147: .PP
        !           148: .I Syslog
        !           149: creates the file
        !           150: /etc/syslog.pid
        !           151: if possible
        !           152: containing a single line
        !           153: with its process id.
        !           154: This can be used to kill or reconfigure
        !           155: .I syslog.
        !           156: .\".PP
        !           157: .\".I Syslog
        !           158: .\"can also be compiled to use
        !           159: .\".IR mpx (2)
        !           160: .\"files instead of datagrams
        !           161: .\"if you are running V7.
        !           162: .\"In this case it creates and reads the file
        !           163: .\"/dev/log.
        !           164: .SH FILES
        !           165: /etc/syslog.conf \- the configuration file
        !           166: .br
        !           167: /etc/syslog.pid \- the process id
        !           168: .\".br
        !           169: .\"/dev/log \- under V7, the mpx file
        !           170: .SH BUGS
        !           171: LOG_ALERT and LOG_SUBALERT messages
        !           172: should only be allowed to privileged programs.
        !           173: .PP
        !           174: Actually,
        !           175: .I syslog
        !           176: is not clever enough to deal with kernel error messages
        !           177: in the current implementation.
        !           178: .SH SEE\ ALSO
        !           179: syslog(3)

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