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from: @(#)syslogd.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.Dd February 18, 1999 .Dt SYSLOGD 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm syslogd .Nd log systems messages .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm " .Op Fl dsSn k -words .Op Fl f Ar config_file .Ek k -words .Op Fl u Ar user .Ek k -words .Op Fl g Ar user .Ek k -words .Op Fl t Ar chroot_dir .Ek k -words .Op Fl m Ar mark_interval .Ek k -words .Op Fl P Ar file_list .Ek k -words .Op Fl p Ar log_socket .Ek k -words .Op Fl p Ar log_socket2 ... .Ek .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm 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: l -tag -width Ds t Fl d Enable debugging to the standard output, and do not disassociate from the controlling terminal. t Fl f Specify the pathname of an alternative configuration file; the default is
a /etc/syslog.conf . t Fl u Ar user Set UID to .Ar user after the sockets and log files have been open. t Fl g Ar group Set GID to .Ar group after the sockets and log files have been open. t Fl t Ar chroot_dir .Xr chroot 2 to .Ar chroot_dir after the sockets and log files have been open. t Fl m Select the number of minutes between ``mark'' messages; the default is 20 minutes. t Fl n Do not perform hostname lookups; report only numeric addresses. t Fl s Select ``secure'' mode, in which syslogd does not listen on a UDP socket but only communicates over a x domain socket. This is valuable when the machine on which syslogd runs is subject to attack over the network and it is desired that the machine be protected from attempts to remotely fill logs and similar attacks. t Fl p Specify the pathname of an log socket. Multiple .Fl p options create multiple log sockets. If no -p arguments are created, the default socket of
a /var/run/log is used. t Fl P Specify the pathname of a file containing a list of sockets to be created. The format of the file is simply one socket per line. .El
p .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 .
p .Nm reads messages from the x domain socket
a /var/run/log , from an Internet domain socket specified in
a /etc/services , and from the special device
a /dev/klog (to read kernel messages).
p .Nm creates the file
a /var/run/syslogd.pid , and stores its process id there. This can be used to kill or reconfigure .Nm "" .
p By using multiple .Fl p options, one can setup many chroot environments by passing the pathname to the log socket
a ( /var/run/log ) in each chroot area to syslogd. For example: .Dl syslogd -p /var/run/log -p /web/var/run/log -p /ftp/var/run/log
p note: the normal log socket must now also be passed to syslogd.
p Accesses from UDP socket can be filtered by libwrap configuration files, like
a /etc/hosts.deny . Specify .Dq Li syslogd in .Ar daemon_list portion of the configuration files. Refer to .Xr hosts_access 5 for details. .Sh SYSLOG PROTOCOL NOTES 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, .Sq Aq 5 . This priority code should map into the priorities defined in the include file .Aq Pa sys/syslog.h . .Sh FILES l -tag -width /var/run/syslogd.pid -compact t Pa /etc/syslog.conf The configuration file. t Pa /var/run/syslogd.pid The process id of current .Nm "" . t Pa /var/run/log Name of the x domain datagram log socket. t Pa /dev/klog The kernel log device. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr logger 1 , .Xr syslog 3 , .Xr services 5 , .Xr syslog.conf 5 , .Xr newsyslog 8 .Sh HISTORY The .Nm command appeared in x 4.3 . Support for multiple log sockets appeared in .Nx 1.4 . libwrap support appeared in .Nx 1.6 .
Indexes created Thu Oct 02 14:10:14 GMT 2025