xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 (revision a14a0223ae1b172e96dd2a1d849e22026a98b692)
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32.\"     @(#)syslog.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd June 4, 1993
36.Dt SYSLOG 3
37.Os BSD 4.2
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm syslog ,
40.Nm vsyslog ,
41.Nm openlog ,
42.Nm closelog ,
43.Nm setlogmask
44.Nd control system log
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include <syslog.h>
47.Fd #include <varargs.h>
48.Ft void
49.Fn syslog "int priority" "const char *message" "..."
50.Ft void
51.Fn vsyslog "int priority" "const char *message" "va_list args"
52.Ft void
53.Fn openlog "const char *ident" "int logopt" "int facility"
54.Ft void
55.Fn closelog void
56.Ft int
57.Fn setlogmask "int maskpri"
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The
60.Fn syslog
61function
62writes
63.Fa message
64to the system message logger.
65The message is then written to the system console, log files,
66logged-in users, or forwarded to other machines as appropriate. (See
67.Xr syslogd 8 . )
68.Pp
69The message is identical to a
70.Xr printf 3
71format string, except that
72.Ql %m
73is replaced by the current error
74message. (As denoted by the global variable
75.Va errno ;
76see
77.Xr strerror 3 . )
78A trailing newline is added if none is present.
79.Pp
80The
81.Fn vsyslog
82function
83is an alternate form in which the arguments have already been captured
84using the variable-length argument facilities of
85.Xr varargs 3 .
86.Pp
87The message is tagged with
88.Fa priority .
89Priorities are encoded as a
90.Fa facility
91and a
92.Em level .
93The facility describes the part of the system
94generating the message.
95The level is selected from the following
96.Em ordered
97(high to low) list:
98.Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV
99.It Dv LOG_EMERG
100A panic condition.
101This is normally broadcast to all users.
102.It Dv LOG_ALERT
103A condition that should be corrected immediately, such as a corrupted
104system database.
105.It Dv LOG_CRIT
106Critical conditions, e.g., hard device errors.
107.It Dv LOG_ERR
108Errors.
109.It Dv LOG_WARNING
110Warning messages.
111.It Dv LOG_NOTICE
112Conditions that are not error conditions,
113but should possibly be handled specially.
114.It Dv LOG_INFO
115Informational messages.
116.It Dv LOG_DEBUG
117Messages that contain information
118normally of use only when debugging a program.
119.El
120.Pp
121The
122.Fn openlog
123function
124provides for more specialized processing of the messages sent
125by
126.Fn syslog
127and
128.Fn vsyslog .
129The parameter
130.Fa ident
131is a string that will be prepended to every message.
132The
133.Fa logopt
134argument
135is a bit field specifying logging options, which is formed by
136.Tn OR Ns 'ing
137one or more of the following values:
138.Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV
139.It Dv LOG_CONS
140If
141.Fn syslog
142cannot pass the message to
143.Xr syslogd 8
144it will attempt to write the message to the console
145.Pq Dq Pa /dev/console.
146.It Dv LOG_NDELAY
147Open the connection to
148.Xr syslogd 8
149immediately.
150Normally the open is delayed until the first message is logged.
151Useful for programs that need to manage the order in which file
152descriptors are allocated.
153.It Dv LOG_PERROR
154Write the message to standard error output as well to the system log.
155.It Dv LOG_PID
156Log the process id with each message: useful for identifying
157instantiations of daemons.
158.El
159.Pp
160The
161.Fa facility
162parameter encodes a default facility to be assigned to all messages
163that do not have an explicit facility encoded:
164.Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV
165.It Dv LOG_AUTH
166The authorization system:
167.Xr login 1 ,
168.Xr su 1 ,
169.Xr getty 8 ,
170etc.
171.It Dv LOG_AUTHPRIV
172The same as
173.Dv LOG_AUTH ,
174but logged to a file readable only by
175selected individuals.
176.It Dv LOG_CRON
177The cron daemon:
178.Xr cron 8 .
179.It Dv LOG_DAEMON
180System daemons, such as
181.Xr routed 8 ,
182that are not provided for explicitly by other facilities.
183.It Dv LOG_FTP
184The file transfer protocol daemons:
185.Xr ftpd 8 ,
186.Xr tftpd 8 .
187.It Dv LOG_KERN
188Messages generated by the kernel.
189These cannot be generated by any user processes.
190.It Dv LOG_LPR
191The line printer spooling system:
192.Xr lpr 1 ,
193.Xr lpc 8 ,
194.Xr lpd 8 ,
195etc.
196.It Dv LOG_MAIL
197The mail system.
198.It Dv LOG_NEWS
199The network news system.
200.It Dv LOG_SECURITY
201Security subsystems, such as
202.It Dv LOG_SYSLOG
203Messages generated internally by
204.Xr syslogd 8 .
205.It Dv LOG_USER
206Messages generated by random user processes.
207This is the default facility identifier if none is specified.
208.It Dv LOG_UUCP
209The uucp system.
210.Xr ipfw 4 .
211.It Dv LOG_LOCAL0
212Reserved for local use.
213Similarly for
214.Dv LOG_LOCAL1
215through
216.Dv LOG_LOCAL7 .
217.El
218.Pp
219The
220.Fn closelog
221function
222can be used to close the log file.
223.Pp
224The
225.Fn setlogmask
226function
227sets the log priority mask to
228.Fa maskpri
229and returns the previous mask.
230Calls to
231.Fn syslog
232with a priority not set in
233.Fa maskpri
234are rejected.
235The mask for an individual priority
236.Fa pri
237is calculated by the macro
238.Fn LOG_MASK pri ;
239the mask for all priorities up to and including
240.Fa toppri
241is given by the macro
242.Fn LOG_UPTO toppri ; .
243The default allows all priorities to be logged.
244.Sh RETURN VALUES
245The routines
246.Fn closelog ,
247.Fn openlog ,
248.Fn syslog
249and
250.Fn vsyslog
251return no value.
252.Pp
253The routine
254.Fn setlogmask
255always returns the previous log mask level.
256.Sh EXAMPLES
257.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
258syslog(LOG_ALERT, "who: internal error 23");
259
260openlog("ftpd", LOG_PID | LOG_NDELAY, LOG_FTP);
261
262setlogmask(LOG_UPTO(LOG_ERR));
263
264syslog(LOG_INFO, "Connection from host %d", CallingHost);
265
266syslog(LOG_INFO|LOG_LOCAL2, "foobar error: %m");
267.Ed
268.Sh SEE ALSO
269.Xr logger 1 ,
270.Xr syslogd 8
271.Sh HISTORY
272These
273functions appeared in
274.Bx 4.2 .
275