syslog.conf(4BSD) (BSD System Compatibility) syslog.conf(4BSD)
NAME
syslog.conf - (BSD) configuration file for syslogd system log
daemon
SYNOPSIS
/etc/syslog.conf
DESCRIPTION
The file /etc/syslog.conf contains information used by the
system log daemon, syslogd(1M), to forward a system message to
appropriate log files and/or users. syslog preprocesses this
file through m4(1) to obtain the correct information for
certain log files.
A configuration entry is composed of two TAB-separated fields:
"selector action"
The selector field contains a semicolon-separated list of
priority specifications of the form:
facility.level [ ; facility.level ]
where facility is a system facility, or comma-separated list
of facilities, and level is an indication of the severity of
the condition being logged. Recognized values for facility
include:
user Messages generated by user processes. This is the
default priority for messages from programs or
facilities not listed in this file.
kern Messages generated by the kernel.
mail The mail system.
daemon System daemons, such as ftpd(1M), routed(1M), and so
on.
auth The authorization system: login(1), su(1M),
getty(1M), and so on.
lpr The line printer spooling system: lpr(1BSD),
lpc(1M_BSD), and so on.
news Reserved for the USENET network news system.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 1
syslog.conf(4BSD) (BSD System Compatibility) syslog.conf(4BSD)
uucp Reserved for the UUCP system; it does not currently
use the syslog mechanism.
cron The cron/at facility; crontab(1), at(1), cron(1M),
and so on.
local0-7 Reserved for local use.
mark For timestamp messages produced internally by
syslogd.
* An asterisk indicates all facilities except for the
mark facility.
Recognized values for level are (in descending order of
severity):
emerg For panic conditions that would normally be
broadcast to all users.
alert For conditions that should be corrected immediately,
such as a corrupted system database.
crit For warnings about critical conditions, such as hard
device errors.
err For other errors.
warning For warning messages.
notice For conditions that are not error conditions, but
may require special handling.
info Informational messages.
debug For messages that are normally used only when
debugging a program.
none Do not send messages from the indicated facility to
the selected file. For example, a selector of
*.debug;mail.none
will send all messages except mail messages to the
selected file.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 2
syslog.conf(4BSD) (BSD System Compatibility) syslog.conf(4BSD)
The action field indicates where to forward the
message. Values for this field can have one of four
forms:
A filename, beginning with a leading slash, which
indicates that messages specified by the selector
are to be written to the specified file. The file
will be opened in append mode.
The name of a remote host, prefixed with an @, as
with: @server, which indicates that messages
specified by the selector are to be forwarded to the
syslogd on the named host.
A comma-separated list of usernames, which indicates
that messages specified by the selector are to be
written to the named users if they are logged in.
An asterisk, which indicates that messages specified
by the selector are to be written to all logged-in
users.
Blank lines are ignored. Lines for which the first
nonwhite character is a `#' are treated as comments.
EXAMPLE
With the following configuration file:
*.notice;mail.info /var/log/notice
*.crit /var/log/critical
kern,mark.debug /dev/console
kern.err @server
*.emerg *
*.alert root,operator
*.alert;auth.warning /var/log/auth
syslogd will log all mail system messages except debug
messages and all notice (or higher) messages into a file named
/var/log/notice. It logs all critical messages into
/var/log/critical, and all kernel messages and 20-minute marks
onto the system console.
Kernel messages of err (error) severity or higher are
forwarded to the machine named server. Emergency messages are
forwarded to all users. The users root and operator are
informed of any alert messages. All messages from the
authorization system of warning level or higher are logged in
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 3
syslog.conf(4BSD) (BSD System Compatibility) syslog.conf(4BSD)
the file /var/log/auth.
FILES
/etc/syslog.conf
REFERENCES
at(1), cron(1M), crontab(1), getty(1M), login(1), lp(1),
m4(1), syslog(3G), syslogd(1M), su(1M)
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 4