SYSLOGD(8)

NAME
syslogd - log system messages

DESCRIPTION

syslogd is responsible for receiving system log messages and routing them to the apropriate file or terminal based on the type of message.

Messages are passed to syslogd using syslog(2). Each message has a facility and a priority. The facility identifies which part of the system issued the message. The priority indicates the severity of the message. The codes for both can be found in the header file <sys/syslog.h>.

If syslogd receives a message with priority LOG_EMERG, meaning the system is unusable, it will flag a panic. init(8) will then take additional action, such as rebooting.

syslogd is automatically started by init(8) and is restarted if it is killed. If syslogd is killed and restarted, the port id will not change.

Killing syslogd has the effect that the configuration file will be reread.

CONFIGURATION
At startup, syslogd reads the file /etc/syslog.conf. The format of each line in this file is:
	facility.priority       destination,...
where either or both of facility and priority can be *, meaning any value. destination is either the full pathname of a file where the message should be saved, or a user name to whom messages should be reported.

The default configuration is equivalent to the following syslog.conf file:
        *.*   /var/adm/syslog,root

BUGS
syslog(2) must wait for the message it sends to be received by syslogd before returning. Otherwise, the calling process might exit and the memory which contained the message would be disposed of if syslogd had not yet transfered the memory's ownership to itself.

If a user is logged on multiple times, he or she will only receive syslog messages in the first location (in the order of /etc/ttys).

FILES
/etc/syslog.conf

SEE ALSO

syslog(2), init(8)

AUTHOR
Phillip Vandry, <vandry@cam.org>