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SYSLOGD(8) System Manager's Manual SYSLOGD(8)

NAME

syslogd
log systems messages

SYNOPSIS

syslogd [
-V
] [
-a socket
] [
-d
] [
-f config_file
] [
-h
] [
-l host_list
] [
-m mark_interval
] [
-n
] [
-p log_socket
] [
-r
] [
-s domain_list
] [
--no-klog
] [
--no-unixaf
] [
--no-forward
]

DESCRIPTION

Syslogd reads and logs messages to the system console, log files, other machines and/or users as specified by its configuration file. The options are as follows:
Print version number and exit.
Display help information and exit.
Enter debug mode. syslogd does not put itself in the background, does not fork and shows debug information.
Specify additional sockets from that syslogd has to listen to. This is needed if you are going to let some daemon run within a chroot()'ed environment. You can specify up to 19 additional sockets.
-f, --rcfile=FILE
Specify the pathname of an alternate configuration file; the default is system specific and displayed in the help output.
--rcdir=DIR
Specify the pathname of an alternate configuration directory; the default is system specific and displayed in the help output.
-h, --hop
Enable forwarding remote messages. By default syslogd will not forward messages it receives from remote hosts.
A colon-seperated lists of hosts which should be considered local; they are logged by their hostnames instead by their FQDN.
-m, --mark=INTERVAL/fP
Select the number of minutes between ``mark'' messages; the default is 20 minutes. Setting it to 0 disables timestamps.
-n, --no-detach
Suppress backgrounding and detachment of the daemon from its controlling terminal.
-p, --socket=PATH
Specify the pathname of an alternate log socket. The default is systemspecific and displayed in the help output.
-r, --inet
Enable to receive remote messages using an internet domain socket. The default is to not receive any messages from the network. Older version always accepted remote messages.
A colon-seperated list of domainnames which should be stripped from the FQDNs of hosts when logging.
Do not listen to the kernel log device. This is only supported on systems which define a kernel log device, on all others this is already the default, and the option will be silently ignored.
Do not listen to any unix domain socket. This option overrides -p and -a.
Do not forward any messages. This overrides -h.
Syslogd reads its configuration file when it starts up and whenever it receives a hangup signal. For information on the format of the configuration file, see syslog.conf(5).
Syslogd reads messages from the UNIX domain socket /dev/log, from an Internet domain socket specified in /etc/services, and from the one of the special devices /dev/klog or /proc/kmsg depending on the system (to read kernel messages). In a GNU/Linux system it will not parse the System.map and use it to annotate the kernel messages.
Syslogd creates the file /var/run/syslog.pid, and stores its process id there. This can be used to kill or reconfigure syslogd.
The message sent to syslogd should consist of a single line. The message can contain a priority code, which should be a preceding decimal number in angle braces, for example, ‘⟨5.⟩’ This priority code should map into the priorities defined in the include file ⟨sys/syslog.h⟩.

FILES

/etc/syslog.conf
The configuration file.
/var/run/syslog.pid
The process id of current syslogd.
/dev/log
Name of the UNIX domain datagram log socket.
/dev/klog, /proc/kmsg
The kernel log device.

SEE ALSO

logger(1), syslog(3), services(5), syslog.conf(5)

HISTORY

The syslogd command appeared in 4.3BSD.
June 6, 1993 BSD 4.2