xref: /netbsd-src/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslogd.8 (revision 404fbe5fb94ca1e054339640cabb2801ce52dd30)
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30.\"     from: @(#)syslogd.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
31.\"
32.Dd August 8, 2008
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 dnrSsTUv
41.Bk -words
42.Op Fl b Ar bind_address
43.Ek
44.Bk -words
45.Op Fl f Ar config_file
46.Ek
47.Bk -words
48.Op Fl g Ar group
49.Ek
50.Bk -words
51.Op Fl m Ar mark_interval
52.Ek
53.Bk -words
54.Op Fl P Ar file_list
55.Ek
56.Bk -words
57.Oo
58.Fl p Ar log_socket
59.Op Fl p Ar log_socket2 ...
60.Oc
61.Ek
62.Bk -words
63.Op Fl t Ar chroot_dir
64.Ek
65.Bk -words
66.Op Fl u Ar user
67.Ek
68.Sh DESCRIPTION
69.Nm
70reads and logs messages to the system console, log files, other
71machines and/or users as specified by its configuration file.
72The options are as follows:
73.Bl -tag -width 15n
74.It Fl b Ar bind_address
75Specify one specific IP address or hostname to bind to.
76If a hostname is specified, the IPv4 or IPv6 address
77which corresponds to it is used.
78.It Fl d
79Enable debugging to the standard output,
80and do not disassociate from the controlling terminal.
81.It Fl f
82Specify the pathname of an alternative configuration file;
83the default is
84.Pa /etc/syslog.conf .
85.It Fl g Ar group
86Set GID to
87.Ar group
88after the sockets and log files have been opened.
89.It Fl m
90Select the number of minutes between ``mark'' messages;
91the default is 20 minutes.
92.It Fl n
93Do not perform hostname lookups; report only numeric addresses.
94.It Fl o
95Select output message format.
96.Bl -hang
97.It Em rfc3164
98traditional BSD Syslog format (default)
99.It Em syslog
100new syslog-protocol format
101.El
102.It Fl P
103Specify the pathname of a file containing a list of sockets to be
104created.
105The format of the file is simply one socket per line.
106.It Fl p
107Specify the pathname of a log socket.
108Multiple
109.Fl p
110options create multiple log sockets.
111If no
112.Fl p
113arguments are created, the default socket of
114.Pa /var/run/log
115is used.
116.It Fl r
117Disable the compression of repeated instances of the same line
118into a single line of the form
119.Dq last message repeated N times .
120.It Fl S
121Sync kernel messages to disk immediately.
122.It Fl s
123Select
124.Dq secure
125mode, in which
126.Nm
127does not listen on a UDP socket but only communicates over a
128.Ux
129domain socket.
130This is valuable when the machine on
131which
132.Nm
133runs is subject to attack over the network and it is desired
134that the machine be protected from attempts to remotely fill logs
135and similar attacks.
136.It Fl t Ar chroot_dir
137.Xr chroot 2
138to
139.Ar chroot_dir
140after the sockets and log files have been opened.
141.It Fl T
142Always use the local time and date for messages received from the
143network, instead of the timestamp field supplied in the message
144by the remote host.
145This is useful if some of the originating hosts can't keep time
146properly or are unable to generate a correct timestamp.
147.It Fl u Ar user
148Set UID to
149.Ar user
150after the sockets and log files have been opened.
151.It Fl U
152Unique priority logging.
153Only log messages at the priority specified by the selector in the
154configuration file.
155Without this option, messages at the specified priority or higher are
156logged.
157This option changes the default priority comparison from
158.Sq \*[Gt]=
159to
160.Sq = .
161.It Fl v
162Verbose logging.
163If specified once, the numeric facility and priority are logged with
164each locally-written message.
165If specified more than once, the names of the facility and priority are
166logged with each locally-written message.
167.El
168.Pp
169.Nm
170reads its configuration file when it starts up and whenever it
171receives a hangup signal.
172For information on the format of the configuration file,
173see
174.Xr syslog.conf 5 .
175.Pp
176.Nm
177reads messages from the
178.Ux
179domain socket
180.Pa /var/run/log ,
181from an Internet domain socket specified in
182.Pa /etc/services ,
183and from the special device
184.Pa /dev/klog
185(to read kernel messages).
186.Pp
187.Nm
188creates the file
189.Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid ,
190and stores its process
191id there.
192This can be used to kill or reconfigure
193.Nm .
194.Pp
195By using multiple
196.Fl p
197options, one can set up many chroot environments by passing the pathname
198to the log socket
199.Pa ( /var/run/log )
200in each chroot area to
201.Nm .
202For example:
203.Dl syslogd -p /var/run/log -p /web/var/run/log -p /ftp/var/run/log
204.Pp
205Note: the normal log socket must now also be passed to
206.Nm .
207.Pp
208The logged message includes the date, time, and hostname (or pathname of
209the log socket).
210Commonly, the program name and the process id is included.
211.Pp
212The date and time are taken from the received message.
213If the format of the timestamp field is incorrect, time obtained from
214the local host is used instead.
215This can be overridden by the
216.Fl T
217flag.
218.Pp
219Accesses from UDP socket can be filtered by libwrap configuration files, like
220.Pa /etc/hosts.deny .
221Specify
222.Dq Li syslogd
223in
224.Ar daemon_list
225portion of the configuration files.
226Refer to
227.Xr hosts_access 5
228for details.
229.Ss SYSLOG PROTOCOL NOTES
230.Nm
231accepts messages in traditional BSD Syslog or in newer Syslog Protocol
232format.
233See RFC 3164 (BSD Syslog) and RFC
234.Em nnnn
235(Syslog Protocol) for detailed description of the message format.
236.Dv LOG_KERN
237and priority
238.Dv LOG_NOTICE .
239All other untagged messages receive the default facility
240.Dv LOG_USER
241and priority
242.Dv LOG_NOTICE .
243.Sh FILES
244.Bl -tag -width /var/run/syslogd.pid -compact
245.It Pa /etc/syslog.conf
246The configuration file.
247.It Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid
248The process id of current
249.Nm .
250.It Pa /var/run/log
251Name of the
252.Ux
253domain datagram log socket.
254.It Pa /dev/klog
255The kernel log device.
256.El
257.Sh SEE ALSO
258.Xr logger 1 ,
259.Xr syslog 3 ,
260.Xr services 5 ,
261.Xr syslog.conf 5 ,
262.Xr newsyslog 8
263.Rs
264.%R RFC
265.%N 3164
266.%D August 2001
267.%T The BSD syslog Protocol
268.Re
269.Rs
270.%R Internet-Draft
271.%N draft-ietf-syslog-protocol-23
272.%D September 2007
273.%T The syslog Protocol
274.Re
275.Sh HISTORY
276The
277.Nm
278command appeared in
279.Bx 4.3 .
280Support for multiple log sockets appeared in
281.Nx 1.4 .
282libwrap support appeared in
283.Nx 1.6 .
284