SYSLOG.CONF(5)                   File Formats                   SYSLOG.CONF(5)

NAME

       syslog.conf- syslogd(8) configuration file

DESCRIPTION

       The  syslog.conf file is the configuration file for the syslogd(8) pro‐
       gram.  It consists of blocks of lines separated by  program  specifica‐
       tions,  with  each line containing two fields: the selector field which
       specifies the types of messages and priorities to which  the  line  ap‐
       plies,  and an action field which specifies the action to be taken if a
       message syslogd receives matches the selection criteria.  The  selector
       field is separated from the action field by one or more tab characters.

       The Selectors function are encoded as a facility, a period (``.''), and
       a level, with no intervening white-space.  Both the  facility  and  the
       level are case insensitive.

       The  facility  describes the part of the system generating the message,
       and is one of the following keywords:  auth,  authpriv,  cron,  daemon,
       kern,  lpr, mail, mark, news, syslog, user, uucp and local0 through lo‐
       cal7.  These keywords (with the exception of mark)  correspond  to  the
       similar  LOG_  values specified to the openlog(3) and syslog(3) library
       routines.

       The level describes the severity of the message, and is a keyword  from
       the  following ordered list (higher to lower): emerg, alert, crit, err,
       warning, notice and debug.  These keywords correspond  to  the  similar
       LOG_ values specified to the syslog library routine.

       Each  block of lines is separated from the previous block by a tag. The
       tag is a line beginning with #!prog or !prog (the former is for compat‐
       ibility with the previous syslogd, if one is sharing syslog.conf files,
       for example) and each block will be associated  with  calls  to  syslog
       from that specific program.

       See syslog(3) for a further descriptions of both the facility and level
       keywords and their significance. It's preferred that selections be made
       on  facility rather than program, since the latter can easily vary in a
       networked environment. In some cases, though, an  appropriate  facility
       simply  doesn't  exist  (for  example, ftpd logs under LOG_DAEMON along
       with a myriad other programs).

       If a received message matches the specified  facility  and  is  of  the
       specified  level (or a higher level), and the first word in the message
       after the date matches the program, the action specified in the  action
       field will be taken.

       Multiple  selectors  may be specified for a single action by separating
       them with semicolon (``;'') characters.  It is important to note,  how‐
       ever, that each selector can modify the ones preceding it.

       Multiple  facilities  may be specified for a single level by separating
       them with comma (``,'') characters.

       An asterisk (``*'') can be used to specify all facilities all levels or
       all programs.

       The  special  facility ``mark'' receives a message at priority ``info''
       every 20 minutes (see syslogd(8)).  This is not enabled by  a  facility
       field containing an asterisk.

       The special level ``none'' disables a particular facility.

       The action field of each line specifies the action to be taken when the
       selector field selects a message.  There are four forms:
              A pathname (beginning with a leading slash).  Selected  messages
              are appended to the file.

              A  hostname (preceded by an at (``@'') sign).  Selected messages
              are forwarded to the syslogd program on the named host.

              A comma separated list of users.  Selected messages are  written
              to those users if they are logged in.

              An  asterisk.   Selected  messages  are written to all logged-in
              users.

       Blank lines and lines whose first non-blank character is a hash (``#'')
       character are ignored.

EXAMPLES

       A configuration file might appear as follows:
       # Log all kernel messages, authentication messages of
       # level notice or higher and anything of level err or
       # higher to the console.
       # Don't log private authentication messages!
       *.err;kern.*;auth.notice;authpriv.none  /dev/console

       # Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher.
       # Don't log private authentication messages!
       *.info;mail.none;authpriv.none          /var/log/messages

       # The authpriv file has restricted access.
       authpriv.*                              /var/log/secure

       # Log all the mail messages in one place.
       mail.*                                  /var/log/maillog

       # Everybody gets emergency messages, plus log them on another
       # machine.
       *.emerg                                 *
       *.emerg                                 @arpa.berkeley.edu

       # Root and Eric get alert and higher messages.
       *.alert                                 root,eric

       # Save mail and news errors of level err and higher in a
       # special file.
       uucp,news.crit                          /var/log/spoolerr

       # Save ftpd transactions along with mail and news
       !ftpd
       *.*                                /var/log/spoolerr

FILES

              /etc/syslog.conf
                     The syslogd(8) configuration file.

BUGS

       The effects of multiple selectors are sometimes not intuitive.  For ex‐
       ample ``mail.crit,*.err'' will select ``mail'' facility messages at the
       level of ``err'' or higher, not at the level of ``crit'' or higher.

SEE ALSO

       syslog(3), syslogd(8)



GNO                             4 October 1997                  SYSLOG.CONF(5)