xref: /netbsd-src/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslogd.8 (revision 23c8222edbfb0f0932d88a8351d3a0cf817dfb9e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: syslogd.8,v 1.35 2004/10/10 09:42:11 wiz Exp $
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30.\"     from: @(#)syslogd.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
31.\"
32.Dd October 10, 2004
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 dnrSs
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
106Sync kernel messages to disk immediately.
107.It Fl s
108Select
109.Dq secure
110mode, in which
111.Nm
112does not listen on a UDP socket but only communicates over a
113.Ux
114domain socket.
115This is valuable when the machine on
116which
117.Nm
118runs is subject to attack over the network and it is desired
119that the machine be protected from attempts to remotely fill logs
120and similar attacks.
121.It Fl t Ar chroot_dir
122.Xr chroot 2
123to
124.Ar chroot_dir
125after the sockets and log files have been opened.
126.It Fl u Ar user
127Set UID to
128.Ar user
129after the sockets and log files have been opened.
130.El
131.Pp
132.Nm
133reads its configuration file when it starts up and whenever it
134receives a hangup signal.
135For information on the format of the configuration file,
136see
137.Xr syslog.conf 5 .
138.Pp
139.Nm
140reads messages from the
141.Ux
142domain socket
143.Pa /var/run/log ,
144from an Internet domain socket specified in
145.Pa /etc/services ,
146and from the special device
147.Pa /dev/klog
148(to read kernel messages).
149.Pp
150.Nm
151creates the file
152.Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid ,
153and stores its process
154id there.
155This can be used to kill or reconfigure
156.Nm .
157.Pp
158By using multiple
159.Fl p
160options, one can set up many chroot environments by passing the pathname
161to the log socket
162.Pa ( /var/run/log )
163in each chroot area to
164.Nm .
165For example:
166.Dl syslogd -p /var/run/log -p /web/var/run/log -p /ftp/var/run/log
167.Pp
168Note: the normal log socket must now also be passed to
169.Nm .
170.Pp
171The logged message includes the date, time, and hostname (or pathname of
172the log socket).
173Commonly, the program name and the process id is included.
174.Pp
175Accesses from UDP socket can be filtered by libwrap configuration files, like
176.Pa /etc/hosts.deny .
177Specify
178.Dq Li syslogd
179in
180.Ar daemon_list
181portion of the configuration files.
182Refer to
183.Xr hosts_access 5
184for details.
185.Ss SYSLOG PROTOCOL NOTES
186The message sent to
187.Nm
188should consist of a single line.
189The message can contain a priority code, which should be a preceding
190decimal number in angle braces, for example,
191.Sq Aq 5 .
192This priority code should map into the priorities defined in the
193include file
194.Aq Pa sys/syslog.h .
195.Sh FILES
196.Bl -tag -width /var/run/syslogd.pid -compact
197.It Pa /etc/syslog.conf
198The configuration file.
199.It Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid
200The process id of current
201.Nm .
202.It Pa /var/run/log
203Name of the
204.Ux
205domain datagram log socket.
206.It Pa /dev/klog
207The kernel log device.
208.El
209.Sh SEE ALSO
210.Xr logger 1 ,
211.Xr syslog 3 ,
212.Xr services 5 ,
213.Xr syslog.conf 5 ,
214.Xr newsyslog 8
215.Sh HISTORY
216The
217.Nm
218command appeared in
219.Bx 4.3 .
220Support for multiple log sockets appeared in
221.Nx 1.4 .
222libwrap support appeared in
223.Nx 1.6 .
224