xref: /netbsd-src/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslogd.8 (revision 53b02e147d4ed531c0d2a5ca9b3e8026ba3e99b5)
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30.\"     from: @(#)syslogd.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
31.\"
32.Dd November 4, 2018
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 dnrSsTUvX
41.Op Fl B Ar buffer_length
42.Op Fl b Ar bind_address
43.Op Fl f Ar config_file
44.Op Fl g Ar group
45.Op Fl m Ar mark_interval
46.Op Fl o Ar output_format
47.Op Fl P Ar file_list
48.Oo
49.Fl p Ar log_socket
50.Op Fl p Ar log_socket2 ...
51.Oc
52.Op Fl t Ar chroot_dir
53.Op Fl u Ar user
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55.Nm
56reads and logs messages to the system console, log files, other
57machines and/or users as specified by its configuration file.
58The options are as follows:
59.Bl -tag -width 15n
60.It Fl B Ar buffer_length
61Sets the receiving buffer length.
62The default is 16384 bytes.
63If syslogd reports buffer overflow, this needs increasing.
64If you don't care about it being reported, see the
65.Fl X
66option.
67.It Fl b Ar bind_address
68Specify one specific IP address or hostname to bind to.
69If a hostname is specified, the IPv4 or IPv6 address
70which corresponds to it is used.
71.It Fl d
72Enable debugging to the standard output,
73and do not disassociate from the controlling terminal.
74.It Fl f Ar config_file
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 Ar mark_interval
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 o Ar output_format
88Select output message format.
89.Bl -hang
90.It Em bsd , rfc3164
91traditional BSD Syslog format (default)
92.It Em syslog , rfc5424
93new syslog-protocol format
94.El
95.It Fl P
96Specify the pathname of a file containing a list of sockets to be
97created.
98The format of the file is simply one socket per line.
99.It Fl p Ar log_socket
100Specify the pathname of a log socket.
101Multiple
102.Fl p
103options create multiple log sockets.
104If no
105.Fl p
106arguments are given, the default socket of
107.Pa /var/run/log
108is used.
109.It Fl r
110Disable the compression of repeated instances of the same line
111into a single line of the form
112.Dq last message repeated N times .
113.It Fl S
114Sync kernel messages to disk immediately.
115.It Fl s
116Select
117.Dq secure
118mode, in which
119.Nm
120does not listen on a UDP socket but only communicates over a
121.Ux
122domain socket.
123This is valuable when the machine on
124which
125.Nm
126runs is subject to attack over the network and it is desired
127that the machine be protected from attempts to remotely fill logs
128and similar attacks.
129.It Fl T
130Always use the local time and date for messages received from the
131network, instead of the timestamp field supplied in the message
132by the remote host.
133This is useful if some of the originating hosts can't keep time
134properly or are unable to generate a correct timestamp.
135.It Fl t Ar chroot_dir
136.Xr chroot 2
137to
138.Ar chroot_dir
139after the sockets and log files have been opened.
140.It Fl U
141Unique priority logging.
142Only log messages at the priority specified by the selector in the
143configuration file.
144Without this option, messages at the specified priority or higher are
145logged.
146This option changes the default priority comparison from
147.Sq >=
148to
149.Sq = .
150.It Fl u Ar user
151Set UID to
152.Ar user
153after the sockets and log files have been opened.
154.It Fl v
155Verbose logging.
156If specified once, the numeric facility and priority are logged with
157each locally-written message.
158If specified more than once, the names of the facility and priority are
159logged with each locally-written message.
160.It Fl X
161Disable logging of buffer overflow.
162.El
163.Pp
164.Nm
165reads its configuration file when it starts up and whenever it
166receives a hangup signal.
167For information on the format of the configuration file,
168see
169.Xr syslog.conf 5 .
170.Pp
171.Nm
172reads messages from the
173.Ux
174domain socket
175.Pa /var/run/log ,
176from an Internet domain socket specified in
177.Pa /etc/services ,
178and from the special device
179.Pa /dev/klog
180(to read kernel messages).
181.Pp
182.Nm
183creates the file
184.Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid ,
185and stores its process
186id there.
187This can be used to kill or reconfigure
188.Nm .
189.Pp
190By using multiple
191.Fl p
192options, one can set up many chroot environments by passing the pathname
193to the log socket
194.Pa ( /var/run/log )
195in each chroot area to
196.Nm .
197For example:
198.Dl syslogd -p /var/run/log -p /web/var/run/log -p /ftp/var/run/log
199.Pp
200Note: the normal log socket must now also be passed to
201.Nm .
202.Pp
203The logged message includes the date, time, and hostname (or pathname of
204the log socket).
205Commonly, the program name and the process id is included.
206.Pp
207The date and time are taken from the received message.
208If the format of the timestamp field is incorrect, time obtained from
209the local host is used instead.
210This can be overridden by the
211.Fl T
212flag.
213.Pp
214Accesses from UDP socket can be filtered by libwrap configuration files, like
215.Pa /etc/hosts.deny .
216Specify
217.Dq Li syslogd
218in
219.Ar daemon_list
220portion of the configuration files.
221Refer to
222.Xr hosts_access 5
223for details.
224.Ss SYSLOG PROTOCOL NOTES
225.Nm
226accepts messages in traditional BSD Syslog or in newer Syslog Protocol
227format.
228See RFC 3164 (BSD Syslog) and RFC 5424 (Syslog Protocol) for detailed
229description of the message format.
230Messages from the local kernel that are not tagged with a priority code
231receive the default facility
232.Dv LOG_KERN
233and priority
234.Dv LOG_NOTICE .
235All other untagged messages receive the default facility
236.Dv LOG_USER
237and priority
238.Dv LOG_NOTICE .
239.Sh FILES
240.Bl -tag -width /var/run/syslogd.pid -compact
241.It Pa /etc/syslog.conf
242The configuration file.
243.It Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid
244The process id of current
245.Nm .
246.It Pa /var/run/log
247Name of the
248.Ux
249domain datagram log socket.
250.It Pa /dev/klog
251The kernel log device.
252.El
253.Sh SEE ALSO
254.Xr logger 1 ,
255.Xr syslog 3 ,
256.Xr services 5 ,
257.Xr syslog.conf 5 ,
258.Xr newsyslog 8
259.Rs
260.%R RFC
261.%N 3164
262.%D August 2001
263.%T The BSD syslog Protocol
264.Re
265.Rs
266.%R RFC
267.%N 5424
268.%D March 2009
269.%T The Syslog Protocol
270.Re
271.Sh HISTORY
272The
273.Nm
274command appeared in
275.Bx 4.3 .
276Support for multiple log sockets appeared in
277.Nx 1.4 .
278libwrap support appeared in
279.Nx 1.6 .
280Support for RFC 5424, TLS encryption and authentication, signed messages
281appeared in
282.Nx 6.0 .
283