xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslogd.8 (revision 1b6c76a2fe091c74f08427e6c870851025a9cf67)
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32.\"     @(#)syslogd.8	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd October 12, 1995
36.Dt SYSLOGD 8
37.Os BSD 4.2
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm syslogd
40.Nd log systems messages
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl 46Adknsuv
44.Op Fl a Ar allowed_peer
45.Op Fl f Ar config_file
46.Op Fl m Ar mark_interval
47.Op Fl p Ar log_socket
48.Op Fl P Ar pid_file
49.Op Fl l Ar path
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Nm
53daemon reads and logs messages to the system console, log files, other
54machines and/or users as specified by its configuration file.
55.Pp
56The options are as follows:
57.Bl -tag -width indent
58.It Fl 4
59Forces
60.Nm
61to use IPv4 addresses only.
62.It Fl 6
63Forces
64.Nm
65to use IPv6 addresses only.
66.It Fl A
67.Nm
68tries to send the message to only one address
69even if the host has more than one A or AAAA record.
70If this option is specified,
71.Nm
72tries to send the message to all addresses.
73.It Fl a Ar allowed_peer
74Allow
75.Ar allowed_peer
76to log to this
77.Nm
78using UDP datagrams.  Multiple
79.Fl a
80options may be specified.
81.Pp
82.Ar Allowed_peer
83can be any of the following:
84.Bl -tag -width "ipaddr/masklen[:service]XX"
85.It Xo
86.Sm off
87.Ar ipaddr
88.No / Ar masklen
89.Op : Ar service
90.Sm on
91.Xc
92Accept datagrams from
93.Ar ipaddr
94(in the usual dotted quad notation) with
95.Ar masklen
96bits being taken into account when doing the address comparison.
97.Ar ipaddr
98can be also IPv6 address by enclosing the address with
99.Ql \&[
100and
101.Ql \&] .
102If specified,
103.Ar service
104is the name or number of an UDP service (see
105.Xr services 5 )
106the source packet must belong to.  A
107.Ar service
108of
109.Ql \&*
110allows packets being sent from any UDP port.  The default
111.Ar service
112is
113.Ql syslog .
114If
115.Ar ipaddr
116is IPv4 address, a missing
117.Ar masklen
118will be substituted by the historic class A or class B netmasks if
119.Ar ipaddr
120belongs into the address range of class A or B, respectively, or
121by 24 otherwise.  If
122.Ar ipaddr
123is IPv6 address, a missing
124.Ar masklen
125will be substituted by 128.
126.It Xo
127.Sm off
128.Ar domainname Op : Ar service
129.Sm on
130.Xc
131Accept datagrams where the reverse address lookup yields
132.Ar domainname
133for the sender address.  The meaning of
134.Ar service
135is as explained above.
136.It Xo
137.Sm off
138.No * Ar domainname Op : Ar service
139.Sm on
140.Xc
141Same as before, except that any source host whose name
142.Em ends
143in
144.Ar domainname
145will get permission.
146.El
147.Pp
148The
149.Fl a
150options are ignored if the
151.Fl s
152option is also specified.
153.It Fl d
154Put
155.Nm
156into debugging mode.  This is probably only of use to developers working on
157.Nm .
158.It Fl f
159Specify the pathname of an alternate configuration file;
160the default is
161.Pa /etc/syslog.conf .
162.It Fl k
163Disable the translation of
164messages received with facility
165.Dq kern
166to facility
167.Dq user .
168Usually the
169.Dq kern
170facility is reserved for messages read directly from
171.Pa /dev/klog .
172.It Fl m
173Select the number of minutes between
174.Dq mark
175messages; the default is 20 minutes.
176.It Fl n
177Disable dns query for every request.
178.It Fl p
179Specify the pathname of an alternate log socket to be used instead;
180the default is
181.Pa /var/run/log .
182.It Fl P
183Specify an alternative file in which to store the process ID.
184The default is
185.Pa /var/run/syslog.pid .
186.It Fl l
187Specify a location where
188.Nm
189should place an additional log socket.
190Up to 19 additional logging sockets can be specified.
191The primary use for this is to place additional log sockets in
192.Pa /var/run/log
193of various chroot filespaces.
194.It Fl s
195Operate in secure mode.  Do not log messages from remote machines.  If
196specified twice, no network socket will be opened at all, which also
197disables logging to remote machines.
198.It Fl u
199Unique priority logging.  Only log messages at the specified priority.
200Without this option, messages at the stated priority or higher are logged.
201This option changes the default comparison from
202.Dq =>
203to
204.Dq = .
205.It Fl v
206Verbose logging.  If specified once, the numeric facility and priority are
207logged with each locally-written message.  If specified more than once,
208the names of the facility and priority are logged with each locally-written
209message.
210.El
211.Pp
212The
213.Nm
214daemon reads its configuration file when it starts up and whenever it
215receives a hangup signal.
216For information on the format of the configuration file,
217see
218.Xr syslog.conf 5 .
219.Pp
220The
221.Nm
222daemon reads messages from the
223.Tn UNIX
224domain socket
225.Pa /var/run/log ,
226from an Internet domain socket specified in
227.Pa /etc/services ,
228and from the special device
229.Pa /dev/klog
230(to read kernel messages).
231.Pp
232The
233.Nm
234daemon creates its process ID file,
235by default
236.Pa /var/run/syslog.pid ,
237and stores its process
238ID there.
239This can be used to kill or reconfigure
240.Nm .
241.Pp
242The message sent to
243.Nm
244should consist of a single line.
245The message can contain a priority code, which should be a preceding
246decimal number in angle braces, for example,
247.Sq Aq 5 .
248This priority code should map into the priorities defined in the
249include file
250.Aq Pa sys/syslog.h .
251.Sh FILES
252.Bl -tag -width /var/run/syslog.pid -compact
253.It Pa /etc/syslog.conf
254configuration file
255.It Pa /var/run/syslog.pid
256default process ID file
257.It Pa /var/run/log
258name of the
259.Tn UNIX
260domain datagram log socket
261.It Pa /dev/klog
262kernel log device
263.El
264.Sh SEE ALSO
265.Xr logger 1 ,
266.Xr syslog 3 ,
267.Xr services 5 ,
268.Xr syslog.conf 5
269.Sh HISTORY
270The
271.Nm
272command appeared in
273.Bx 4.3 .
274.Pp
275The
276.Fl a ,
277.Fl s ,
278.Fl u ,
279and
280.Fl v
281options are
282.Fx 2.2
283extensions.
284.Sh BUGS
285The ability to log messages received in UDP packets is equivalent to
286an unauthenticated remote disk-filling service, and should probably be
287disabled by default.  Some sort of
288.No inter- Ns Nm syslogd
289authentication mechanism ought to be worked out.  To prevent the worst
290abuse, use of the
291.Fl a
292option is therefore highly recommended.
293.Pp
294The
295.Fl a
296matching algorithm doesn't pretend to be very efficient; use of numeric
297IP addresses is faster than domain name comparison.  Since the allowed
298peer list is being walked linearly, peer groups where frequent messages
299are being anticipated from should be put early into the
300.Fl a
301list.
302.Pp
303The log socket was moved from
304.Pa /dev
305to ease the use of a read-only root filesystem.
306This may confuse
307some old binaries so that a symbolic link might be used for a
308transitional period.
309