syslogd.tproj/syslog.conf.5

   1 .\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993
   2 .\"     The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
   3 .\"
   4 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
   5 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
   6 .\" are met:
   7 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
   8 .\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
   9 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
  10 .\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
  11 .\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  12 .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
  13 .\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
  14 .\"     This product includes software developed by the University of
  15 .\"     California, Berkeley and its contributors.
  16 .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
  17 .\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
  18 .\"    without specific prior written permission.
  19 .\"
  20 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
  21 .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
  22 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
  23 .\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
  24 .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
  25 .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
  26 .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
  27 .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
  28 .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
  29 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
  30 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
  31 .\"
  32 .\"     @(#)syslog.conf.5       8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93
  33 .\"
  34 .Dd June 9, 1993
  35 .Dt SYSLOG.CONF 5
  36 .Os
  37 .Sh NAME
  38 .Nm syslog.conf
  39 .Nd
  40 .Xr syslogd 8
  41 configuration file
  42 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  43 The
  44 .Nm syslog.conf
  45 file is the configuration file for the
  46 .Xr syslogd 8
  47 program.
  48 It consists of lines with two fields: the
  49 .Em selector
  50 field which specifies the types of messages and priorities to which the
  51 line applies, and an
  52 .Em action
  53 field which specifies the action to be taken if a message
  54 .Xr syslogd
  55 receives matches the selection criteria.
  56 The
  57 .Em selector
  58 field is separated from the
  59 .Em action
  60 field by one or more tab characters.
  61 .Pp
  62 The
  63 .Em Selectors
  64 function
  65 are encoded as a
  66 .Em facility ,
  67 a period (``.''), and a
  68 .Em level ,
  69 with no intervening white-space.
  70 Both the
  71 .Em facility
  72 and the
  73 .Em level
  74 are case insensitive.
  75 .Pp
  76 The
  77 .Em facility
  78 describes the part of the system generating the message, and is one of
  79 the following keywords: auth, authpriv, cron, daemon, kern, lpr, mail,
  80 mark, news, syslog, user, uucp and local0 through local7.
  81 These keywords (with the exception of mark) correspond to the
  82 similar
  83 .Dq Dv LOG_
  84 values specified to the
  85 .Xr openlog 3
  86 and
  87 .Xr syslog 3
  88 library routines.
  89 .Pp
  90 The
  91 .Em level
  92 describes the severity of the message, and is a keyword from the
  93 following ordered list (higher to lower): emerg, alert, crit, err,
  94 warning, notice and debug.
  95 These keywords correspond to the
  96 similar
  97 .Pq Dv LOG_
  98 values specified to the
  99 .Xr syslog
 100 library routine.
 101 .Pp
 102 See
 103 .Xr syslog 3
 104 for a further descriptions of both the
 105 .Em facility
 106 and
 107 .Em level
 108 keywords and their significance.
 109 .Pp
 110 If a received message matches the specified
 111 .Em facility
 112 and is of the specified
 113 .Em level
 114 .Em (or a higher level) ,
 115 the action specified in the
 116 .Em action
 117 field will be taken.
 118 .Pp
 119 Multiple
 120 .Em selectors
 121 may be specified for a single
 122 .Em action
 123 by separating them with semicolon (``;'') characters.
 124 It is important to note, however, that each
 125 .Em selector
 126 can modify the ones preceding it.
 127 .Pp
 128 Multiple
 129 .Em facilities
 130 may be specified for a single
 131 .Em level
 132 by separating them with comma (``,'') characters.
 133 .Pp
 134 An asterisk (``*'') can be used to specify all
 135 .Em facilities
 136 or all
 137 .Em levels .
 138 .Pp
 139 The special
 140 .Em facility
 141 ``mark'' receives a message at priority ``info'' every 20 minutes
 142 (see
 143 .Xr syslogd 8 ) .
 144 This is not enabled by a
 145 .Em facility
 146 field containing an asterisk.
 147 .Pp
 148 The special
 149 .Em level
 150 ``none'' disables a particular
 151 .Em facility .
 152 .Pp
 153 The
 154 .Em action
 155 field of each line specifies the action to be taken when the
 156 .Em selector
 157 field selects a message.
 158 There are four forms:
 159 .Bl -bullet
 160 .It
 161 A pathname (beginning with a leading slash).
 162 Selected messages are appended to the file.
 163 .It
 164 A hostname (preceded by an at (``@'') sign).
 165 Selected messages are forwarded to the
 166 .Xr syslogd
 167 program on the named host.
 168 .It
 169 A comma separated list of users.
 170 Selected messages are written to those users
 171 if they are logged in.
 172 .It
 173 An asterisk.
 174 Selected messages are written to all logged-in users.
 175 .El
 176 .Pp
 177 Blank lines and lines whose first non-blank character is a hash (``#'')
 178 character are ignored.
 179 .Sh EXAMPLES
 180 .Pp
 181 A configuration file might appear as follows:
 182 .Bd -literal
 183 # Log all kernel messages, authentication messages of
 184 # level notice or higher and anything of level err or
 185 # higher to the console.
 186 # Don't log private authentication messages!
 187 *.err;kern.*;auth.notice;authpriv.none  /dev/console
 188
 189 # Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher.
 190 # Don't log private authentication messages!
 191 *.info;mail.none;authpriv.none          /var/log/messages
 192
 193 # The authpriv file has restricted access.
 194 authpriv.*                                              /var/log/secure
 195
 196 # Log all the mail messages in one place.
 197 mail.*                                                  /var/log/maillog
 198
 199 # Everybody gets emergency messages, plus log them on another
 200 # machine.
 201 *.emerg                                                 *
 202 *.emerg                                                 @arpa.berkeley.edu
 203
 204 # Root and Eric get alert and higher messages.
 205 *.alert                                                 root,eric
 206
 207 # Save mail and news errors of level err and higher in a
 208 # special file.
 209 uucp,news.crit                                          /var/log/spoolerr
 210 .Ed
 211 .Sh FILES
 212 .Bl -tag -width /etc/syslog.conf -compact
 213 .It Pa /etc/syslog.conf
 214 The
 215 .Xr syslogd 8
 216 configuration file.
 217 .El
 218 .Sh BUGS
 219 The effects of multiple selectors are sometimes not intuitive.
 220 For example ``mail.crit,*.err'' will select ``mail'' facility messages at
 221 the level of ``err'' or higher, not at the level of ``crit'' or higher.
 222 .Sh SEE ALSO
 223 .Xr syslog 3 ,
 224 .Xr syslogd 8