libc/gen/syslog.3

.\"	$NetBSD: syslog.3,v 1.35 2024/07/11 06:04:13 riastradh Exp $
.\"	$OpenBSD: syslog.3,v 1.25 2005/07/22 03:16:58 jaredy Exp $
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.\"     @(#)syslog.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
.\"
.Dd July 2, 2024
.Dt SYSLOG 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm syslog ,
.Nm syslog_r ,
.Nm vsyslog ,
.Nm vsyslog_r ,
.Nm syslogp ,
.Nm syslogp_r ,
.Nm syslog_ss ,
.Nm syslogp_ss ,
.Nm vsyslogp ,
.Nm vsyslogp_r ,
.Nm vsyslog_ss ,
.Nm vsyslogp_ss ,
.Nm openlog ,
.Nm openlog_r ,
.Nm closelog ,
.Nm closelog_r ,
.Nm setlogmask ,
.Nm setlogmask_r
.Nd control system log
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libc
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In syslog.h
.Ft void
.Fn syslog "int priority" "const char *message" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn syslog_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn syslogp "int priority" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn syslogp_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn syslog_ss "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn syslogp_ss "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "..."
.Ft void
.Fn openlog "const char *ident" "int logopt" "int facility"
.Ft void
.Fn openlog_r "const char *ident" "int logopt" "int facility" "struct syslog_data *data"
.Ft void
.Fn closelog void
.Ft void
.Fn closelog_r "struct syslog_data *data"
.Ft int
.Fn setlogmask "int maskpri"
.Ft int
.Fn setlogmask_r "int maskpri" "struct syslog_data *data"
.In stdarg.h
.Ft void
.Fn vsyslog "int priority" "const char *message" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn vsyslog_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn vsyslogp "int priority" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn vsyslogp_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn vsyslog_ss "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "va_list args"
.Ft void
.Fn vsyslogp_ss "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "va_list args"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn syslog
function
writes
.Fa message
to the system message logger.
The message is then written to the system console, log files,
logged-in users, or forwarded to other machines as appropriate (see
.Xr syslogd 8 ) .
.Pp
The message is identical to a
.Xr printf 3
format string, except that
.Ql %m
is replaced by the current error
message.
(As denoted by the global variable
.Va errno ;
see
.Xr strerror 3 . )
A trailing newline is added if none is present.
.\" shouldn't the newline statement be removed?
.\" when logging through a socket a newline is
.\" not added nor is it required. -- ms
.Pp
The
.Fn syslog_r
function is a multithread-safe version of the
.Fn syslog
function.
It takes a pointer to a
.Fa syslog_data
structure which is used to store
information.
This parameter must be initialized before
.Fn syslog_r
is called.
The
.Dv SYSLOG_DATA_INIT
constant is used for this purpose.
The
.Fa syslog_data
structure and the
.Dv SYSLOG_DATA_INIT
constant are defined as:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct syslog_data {
        int             log_file;
        int             connected;
        int             opened;
        int             log_stat;
        const char     *log_tag;
        int             log_fac;
        int             log_mask;
};

#define SYSLOG_DATA_INIT { \e
    .log_file = -1, \e
    .log_fac = LOG_USER, \e
    .log_mask = 0xff, \e
}
.Ed
.Pp
The structure is composed of the following elements:
.Bl -tag -width connected -offset indent
.It Va log_file
contains the file descriptor of the file where the message is logged
.It Va connected
indicates if connect has been done
.It Va opened
indicates if
.Fn openlog_r
has been called
.It Va log_stat
status bits, set by
.Fn openlog_r
.It Va log_tag
string to tag the entry with
.It Va log_fac
facility code
.It Va log_mask
mask of priorities to be logged
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn syslog_ss
is the async-signal-safe version of
.Fn syslog_r
and is also multithread-safe.
It has the following limitations:
.Bl -enum -offset indent
.It
The format string cannot contain multi-byte character sequences.
.It
Positional
.Xr printf 3
arguments are not supported.
.It
Floating point formats are not supported and print
.Dq UNK .
.It
The time of the event is not sent to
.Xr syslogd 8 .
.It
The error string in the %m format is not printed symbolically but as
.Dq Error %d .
.El
.Pp
For more information about async-signal-safe functions and signal handlers, see
.Xr signal 7 .
.Pp
Similarly
.Fn vsyslog_ss
is the async-signal-safe version of
.Fn vsyslog_r .
Same for
.Fn syslogp_ss
and
.Fn syslogp_r ,
and finally
.Fn vsyslogp_ss
and
.Fn vsyslogp_r .
.Pp
The
.Fn vsyslog
function
is an alternative form in which the arguments have already been captured
using the variable-length argument facilities of
.Xr stdarg 3 .
.Pp
The
.Fn syslogp
variants take additional arguments which correspond to new fields in the
syslog-protocol message format.
All three arguments are evaluated as
.Xr printf 3
format strings and any of them can be
.Dv NULL .
This enables applications to use message IDs, structured data, and UTF-8 encoded
content in messages.
.Pp
The message is tagged with
.Fa priority .
Priorities are encoded as a
.Fa facility
and a
.Em level .
The facility describes the part of the system
generating the message.
The level is selected from the following
.Em ordered
(high to low) list:
.Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV
.It Dv LOG_EMERG
A panic condition.
This is normally broadcast to all users.
.It Dv LOG_ALERT
A condition that should be corrected immediately, such as a corrupted
system database.
.It Dv LOG_CRIT
Critical conditions, e.g., hard device errors.
.It Dv LOG_ERR
Errors.
.It Dv LOG_WARNING
Warning messages.
.It Dv LOG_NOTICE
Conditions that are not error conditions,
but should possibly be handled specially.
.It Dv LOG_INFO
Informational messages.
.It Dv LOG_DEBUG
Messages that contain information
normally of use only when debugging a program.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn vsyslog_r
is used the same way as
.Fn vsyslog
except that it takes an additional pointer to a
.Fa syslog_data
structure.
It is a multithread-safe version of the
.Fn vsyslog
function described above.
.\" The
.\" .Fn vsyslog_ss
.\" is the async-signal-safe version of
.\" .Fn vsyslog_r ,
.\" is also multithread-safe, and has the same limitations as
.\" .Fn syslog_ss .
.Pp
The
.Fn openlog
function
provides for more specialized processing of the messages sent
by
.Fn syslog
and
.Fn vsyslog .
The parameter
.Fa ident
is a string that will be prepended to every message.
The
.Fa logopt
argument
is a bit field specifying logging options, which is formed by
.Tn OR Ns 'ing
one or more of the following values:
.Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV
.It Dv LOG_CONS
If
.Fn syslog
cannot pass the message to
.Xr syslogd 8
it will attempt to write the message to the console
.Pq Dq Pa /dev/console .
.It Dv LOG_NDELAY
Open the connection to
.Xr syslogd 8
immediately.
Normally the open is delayed until the first message is logged.
Useful for programs that need to manage the order in which file
descriptors are allocated.
.It Dv LOG_NLOG
Stops syslog from writing to the system log.
Only useful with
.Dv LOG_PERROR .
.It Dv LOG_PERROR
Write the message to standard error output as well to the system log.
.It Dv LOG_PID
Log the process id with each message: useful for identifying
instantiations of daemons.
(This PID is placed within brackets
between the ident and the message.)
.It Dv LOG_PTRIM
Trim anything syslog added to the message before writing to
standard error output.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fa facility
parameter encodes a default facility to be assigned to all messages
that do not have an explicit facility encoded:
.Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV
.It Dv LOG_AUTH
The authorization system:
.Xr login 1 ,
.Xr su 1 ,
.Xr getty 8 ,
etc.
.It Dv LOG_AUTHPRIV
The same as
.Dv LOG_AUTH ,
but logged to a file readable only by
selected individuals.
.It Dv LOG_CRON
The cron daemon:
.Xr cron 8 .
.It Dv LOG_DAEMON
System daemons, such as
.Xr routed 8 ,
that are not provided for explicitly by other facilities.
.It Dv LOG_FTP
The file transfer protocol daemon:
.Xr ftpd 8 .
.It Dv LOG_KERN
Messages generated by the kernel.
These cannot be generated by any user processes.
.It Dv LOG_LPR
The line printer spooling system:
.Xr lpr 1 ,
.Xr lpc 8 ,
.Xr lpd 8 ,
etc.
.It Dv LOG_MAIL
The mail system.
.It Dv LOG_NEWS
The network news system.
.It Dv LOG_SYSLOG
Messages generated internally by
.Xr syslogd 8 .
.It Dv LOG_USER
Messages generated by random user processes.
This is the default facility identifier if none is specified.
.It Dv LOG_UUCP
The uucp system.
.It Dv LOG_LOCAL0
Reserved for local use.
Similarly for
.Dv LOG_LOCAL1
through
.Dv LOG_LOCAL7 .
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn openlog_r
function is the multithread-safe version of the
.Fn openlog
function.
It takes an additional pointer to a
.Fa syslog_data
structure.
This function must be used in conjunction with the other
multithread-safe functions.
.Pp
The
.Fn closelog
function
can be used to close the log file.
.Pp
The
.Fn closelog_r
does the same thing as
.Xr closelog 3
but in a multithread-safe way and takes an additional
pointer to a
.Fa syslog_data
structure.
.Pp
The
.Fn setlogmask
function
sets the log priority mask to
.Fa maskpri
and returns the previous mask.
Calls to
.Fn syslog
with a priority not set in
.Fa maskpri
are rejected.
The mask for an individual priority
.Fa pri
is calculated by the macro
.Fn LOG_MASK pri ;
the mask for all priorities up to and including
.Fa toppri
is given by the macro
.Fn LOG_UPTO toppri .
The default allows all priorities to be logged.
.Pp
The
.Fn setlogmask_r
function is the multithread-safe version of
.Fn setlogmask .
It takes an additional pointer to a
.Fa syslog_data
structure.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The routines
.Fn closelog ,
.Fn closelog_r ,
.Fn openlog ,
.Fn openlog_r ,
.Fn syslog ,
.Fn syslog_r ,
.Fn vsyslog ,
.Fn vsyslog_r ,
.Fn syslogp ,
.Fn syslogp_r ,
.Fn vsyslogp ,
and
.Fn vsyslogp_r
return no value.
.Pp
The routines
.Fn setlogmask
and
.Fn setlogmask_r
always return the previous log mask level.
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
syslog(LOG_ALERT, "who: internal error 23");

openlog("ftpd", LOG_PID | LOG_NDELAY, LOG_FTP);

setlogmask(LOG_UPTO(LOG_ERR));

syslog(LOG_INFO, "Connection from host %d", CallingHost);

syslog(LOG_INFO|LOG_LOCAL2, "foobar error: %m");

syslogp(LOG_INFO|LOG_LOCAL2, NULL, NULL, "foobar error: %m");

syslogp(LOG_INFO, "ID%d", "[meta language=\e"en-US\e"]",
        "event: %s", 42, EventDescription);
.Ed
.Pp
For the multithread-safe functions:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct syslog_data sdata = SYSLOG_DATA_INIT;

syslog_r(LOG_INFO|LOG_LOCAL2, &sdata, "foobar error: %m");
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr logger 1 ,
.Xr syslogd 8
.Rs
.%R RFC
.%N 3164
.%D August 2001
.%T The BSD syslog Protocol
.Re
.Rs
.%R Internet-Draft
.%N draft-ietf-syslog-protocol-23
.%D September 2007
.%T The syslog Protocol
.Re
.Sh HISTORY
These non-multithread-safe functions appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .
The multithread-safe functions appeared in
.Ox 3.1
and then in
.Nx 4.0 .
The async-signal-safe functions appeared in
.Nx 4.0 .
The syslog-protocol functions appeared in
.Nx 5.0 .
.Sh CAVEATS
It is important never to pass a string with user-supplied data as a
format without using
.Ql %s .
An attacker can put format specifiers in the string to mangle your stack,
leading to a possible security hole.
This holds true even if you have built the string
.Dq by hand
using a function like
.Fn snprintf ,
as the resulting string may still contain user-supplied conversion specifiers
for later interpolation by
.Fn syslog .
.Pp
Always be sure to use the proper secure idiom:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
syslog(priority, "%s", string);
.Ed
.Pp
With
.Fn syslogp
the caller is responsible to use the right formatting for the message fields.
A
.Fa msgid
must only contain up to 32 ASCII characters.
A
.Fa sdfmt
has strict rules for parenthesis and character quoting.
If the
.Fa msgfmt
contains UTF-8 characters, then it has to start with a Byte Order Mark.