xref: /netbsd-src/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslogd.8 (revision 21e37cc72a480a47828990a439cde7ac9ffaf0c6)
1.\"	$NetBSD: syslogd.8,v 1.33 2003/10/17 01:39:25 lukem Exp $
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30.\"     from: @(#)syslogd.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
31.\"
32.Dd October 17, 2003
33.Dt SYSLOGD 8
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm syslogd
37.Nd log systems messages
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Op Fl dnrs
41.Bk -words
42.Op Fl f Ar config_file
43.Ek
44.Bk -words
45.Op Fl g Ar group
46.Ek
47.Bk -words
48.Op Fl m Ar mark_interval
49.Ek
50.Bk -words
51.Op Fl P Ar file_list
52.Ek
53.Bk -words
54.Oo
55.Fl p Ar log_socket
56.Op Fl p Ar log_socket2 ...
57.Oc
58.Ek
59.Bk -words
60.Op Fl t Ar chroot_dir
61.Ek
62.Bk -words
63.Op Fl u Ar user
64.Ek
65.Sh DESCRIPTION
66.Nm
67reads and logs messages to the system console, log files, other
68machines and/or users as specified by its configuration file.
69The options are as follows:
70.Bl -tag -width 15n
71.It Fl d
72Enable debugging to the standard output,
73and do not disassociate from the controlling terminal.
74.It Fl f
75Specify the pathname of an alternative configuration file;
76the default is
77.Pa /etc/syslog.conf .
78.It Fl g Ar group
79Set GID to
80.Ar group
81after the sockets and log files have been opened.
82.It Fl m
83Select the number of minutes between ``mark'' messages;
84the default is 20 minutes.
85.It Fl n
86Do not perform hostname lookups; report only numeric addresses.
87.It Fl P
88Specify the pathname of a file containing a list of sockets to be
89created.
90The format of the file is simply one socket per line.
91.It Fl p
92Specify the pathname of a log socket.
93Multiple
94.Fl p
95options create multiple log sockets.
96If no
97.Fl p
98arguments are created, the default socket of
99.Pa /var/run/log
100is used.
101.It Fl r
102Disable the compression of repeated instances of the same line
103into a single line of the form
104.Dq last message repeated N times .
105.It Fl s
106Select
107.Dq secure
108mode, in which
109.Nm
110does not listen on a UDP socket but only communicates over a
111.Ux
112domain socket.
113This is valuable when the machine on
114which
115.Nm
116runs is subject to attack over the network and it is desired
117that the machine be protected from attempts to remotely fill logs
118and similar attacks.
119.It Fl t Ar chroot_dir
120.Xr chroot 2
121to
122.Ar chroot_dir
123after the sockets and log files have been opened.
124.It Fl u Ar user
125Set UID to
126.Ar user
127after the sockets and log files have been opened.
128.El
129.Pp
130.Nm
131reads its configuration file when it starts up and whenever it
132receives a hangup signal.
133For information on the format of the configuration file,
134see
135.Xr syslog.conf 5 .
136.Pp
137.Nm
138reads messages from the
139.Ux
140domain socket
141.Pa /var/run/log ,
142from an Internet domain socket specified in
143.Pa /etc/services ,
144and from the special device
145.Pa /dev/klog
146(to read kernel messages).
147.Pp
148.Nm
149creates the file
150.Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid ,
151and stores its process
152id there.
153This can be used to kill or reconfigure
154.Nm .
155.Pp
156By using multiple
157.Fl p
158options, one can set up many chroot environments by passing the pathname
159to the log socket
160.Pa ( /var/run/log )
161in each chroot area to
162.Nm .
163For example:
164.Dl syslogd -p /var/run/log -p /web/var/run/log -p /ftp/var/run/log
165.Pp
166Note: the normal log socket must now also be passed to
167.Nm .
168.Pp
169The logged message includes the date, time, and hostname (or pathname of
170the log socket).
171Commonly, the program name and the process id is included.
172.Pp
173Accesses from UDP socket can be filtered by libwrap configuration files, like
174.Pa /etc/hosts.deny .
175Specify
176.Dq Li syslogd
177in
178.Ar daemon_list
179portion of the configuration files.
180Refer to
181.Xr hosts_access 5
182for details.
183.Ss SYSLOG PROTOCOL NOTES
184The message sent to
185.Nm
186should consist of a single line.
187The message can contain a priority code, which should be a preceding
188decimal number in angle braces, for example,
189.Sq Aq 5 .
190This priority code should map into the priorities defined in the
191include file
192.Aq Pa sys/syslog.h .
193.Sh FILES
194.Bl -tag -width /var/run/syslogd.pid -compact
195.It Pa /etc/syslog.conf
196The configuration file.
197.It Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid
198The process id of current
199.Nm .
200.It Pa /var/run/log
201Name of the
202.Ux
203domain datagram log socket.
204.It Pa /dev/klog
205The kernel log device.
206.El
207.Sh SEE ALSO
208.Xr logger 1 ,
209.Xr syslog 3 ,
210.Xr services 5 ,
211.Xr syslog.conf 5 ,
212.Xr newsyslog 8
213.Sh HISTORY
214The
215.Nm
216command appeared in
217.Bx 4.3 .
218Support for multiple log sockets appeared in
219.Nx 1.4 .
220libwrap support appeared in
221.Nx 1.6 .
222