.\" $OpenBSD: syslogd.8,v 1.25 2009/10/22 12:35:53 sobrado Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1986, 1991, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" from: @(#)syslogd.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 .\" $NetBSD: syslogd.8,v 1.3 1996/01/02 17:41:48 perry Exp $ .\" .Dd $Mdocdate: October 22 2009 $ .Dt SYSLOGD 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm syslogd .Nd log systems messages .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm syslogd .Bk -words .Op Fl dnu .Op Fl a Ar path .Op Fl f Ar config_file .Op Fl m Ar mark_interval .Op Fl p Ar log_socket .Op Fl s Ar reporting_socket .Ek .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm reads and logs messages to the system console, log files, pipes to other programs, other machines and/or users as specified by its configuration file. .Pp The options are as follows: .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Fl a Pa path Specify a location where .Nm should place an additional log socket. Up to about 20 additional logging sockets can be specified. The primary use for this is to place additional log sockets in .Pa /dev/log of various chroot filespaces. .It Fl d Enable debugging to the standard output, and do not disassociate from the controlling terminal. .It Fl f Ar config_file Specify the pathname of an alternate configuration file; the default is .Pa /etc/syslog.conf . .It Fl m Ar mark_interval Select the number of minutes between .Dq mark messages; the default is 20 minutes. .It Fl n Print source addresses numerically rather than symbolically. This saves an address-to-name lookup for each incoming message, which can be useful when combined with the .Fl u option on a loghost with no DNS cache. Messages from the local host will still be logged with the symbolic local host name. .It Fl p Ar log_socket Specify the pathname of an alternate log socket to be used instead; the default is .Pa /dev/log . .It Fl s Ar reporting_socket Specify path to an .Dv AF_LOCAL socket for use in reporting logs stored in memory buffers using .Xr syslogc 8 . .It Fl u Select the historical .Dq insecure mode, in which syslogd will accept input from the UDP port. Some software wants this, but you can be subjected to a variety of attacks over the network, including attackers remotely filling logs. .El .Pp .Nm 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 .Xr syslog.conf 5 . .Pp .Nm creates the file .Pa /var/run/syslog.pid , and stores its process ID there. This can be used to kill or reconfigure .Nm syslogd . .Pp .Nm opens an Internet domain socket as specified in .Pa /etc/services . Normally .Nm will only use this socket to send messages outwards, but in .Dq insecure mode it will also read messages from this socket. .Nm also opens and reads messages from the .Ux domain socket .Pa /dev/log , and from the special device .Pa /dev/klog (to read kernel messages). .Pp .Nm opens the above described socket whether or not it is running in secure mode. If .Nm is running in secure mode, all incoming data on this socket is discarded. The socket is required for sending forwarded messages. .Pp The message sent to .Nm 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, .Dq Aq 5 . This priority code should map into the priorities defined in the include file .Aq Pa sys/syslog.h . .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width /var/run/syslog.pid -compact .It Pa /etc/syslog.conf configuration file .It Pa /var/run/syslog.pid process ID of current .Nm syslogd .It Pa /dev/log name of the .Ux domain datagram log socket .It Pa /dev/klog kernel log device .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr logger 1 , .Xr syslog 3 , .Xr services 5 , .Xr syslog.conf 5 , .Xr newsyslog 8 , .Xr syslogc 8 .Sh HISTORY The .Nm command appeared in .Bx 4.3 . .Sh CAVEATS .Nm does not create files, it only logs to existing ones.