1.\" $NetBSD: syslog.conf.5,v 1.9 2002/02/02 01:58:52 wiz Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1991, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" from: @(#)syslog.conf.5 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93 35.\" 36.Dd June 9, 1993 37.Dt SYSLOG.CONF 5 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm syslog.conf 41.Nd 42.Xr syslogd 8 43configuration file 44.Sh DESCRIPTION 45The 46.Nm 47file is the configuration file for the 48.Xr syslogd 8 49program. 50It consists of lines with two fields: the 51.Em selector 52field which specifies the types of messages and priorities to which the 53line applies, and an 54.Em action 55field which specifies the action to be taken if a message 56.Xr syslogd 8 57receives matches the selection criteria. 58The 59.Em selector 60field is separated from the 61.Em action 62field by one or more tab characters. 63.Pp 64The 65.Em Selectors 66function 67are encoded as a 68.Em facility , 69a period (``.''), and a 70.Em level , 71with no intervening white-space. 72Both the 73.Em facility 74and the 75.Em level 76are case insensitive. 77.Pp 78The 79.Em facility 80describes the part of the system generating the message, and is one of 81the following keywords: auth, authpriv, cron, ftp, daemon, kern, lpr, 82mail, mark, news, syslog, user, uucp and local0 through local7. 83These keywords (with the exception of mark) correspond to the 84similar 85.Dq Dv LOG_ 86values specified to the 87.Xr openlog 3 88and 89.Xr syslog 3 90library routines. 91.Pp 92The 93.Em level 94describes the severity of the message, and is a keyword from the 95following ordered list (higher to lower): emerg, alert, crit, err, 96warning, notice, info and debug. 97These keywords correspond to the 98similar 99.Pq Dv LOG_ 100values specified to the 101.Xr syslog 3 102library routine. 103.Pp 104See 105.Xr syslog 3 106for a further descriptions of both the 107.Em facility 108and 109.Em level 110keywords and their significance. 111.Pp 112If a received message matches the specified 113.Em facility 114and is of the specified 115.Em level 116.Em (or a higher level) , 117the action specified in the 118.Em action 119field will be taken. 120.Pp 121Multiple 122.Em selectors 123may be specified for a single 124.Em action 125by separating them with semicolon (``;'') characters. 126It is important to note, however, that each 127.Em selector 128can modify the ones preceding it. 129.Pp 130Multiple 131.Em facilities 132may be specified for a single 133.Em level 134by separating them with comma (``,'') characters. 135.Pp 136An asterisk (``*'') can be used to specify all 137.Em facilities 138or all 139.Em levels . 140.Pp 141The special 142.Em facility 143``mark'' receives a message at priority ``info'' every 20 minutes 144(see 145.Xr syslogd 8 ) . 146This is not enabled by a 147.Em facility 148field containing an asterisk. 149.Pp 150The special 151.Em level 152``none'' disables a particular 153.Em facility . 154.Pp 155The 156.Em action 157field of each line specifies the action to be taken when the 158.Em selector 159field selects a message. 160There are four forms: 161.Bl -bullet 162.It 163A pathname (beginning with a leading slash). 164Selected messages are appended to the file. 165.It 166A hostname (preceded by an at (``@'') sign). 167Selected messages are forwarded to the 168.Xr syslogd 8 169program on the named host. 170.It 171A comma separated list of users. 172Selected messages are written to those users 173if they are logged in. 174.It 175An asterisk. 176Selected messages are written to all logged-in users. 177.El 178.Pp 179Blank lines and lines whose first non-blank character is a hash (``#'') 180character are ignored. 181.Sh FILES 182.Bl -tag -width /etc/syslog.conf -compact 183.It Pa /etc/syslog.conf 184The 185.Xr syslogd 8 186configuration file. 187.El 188.Sh EXAMPLES 189A configuration file might appear as follows: 190.Bd -literal 191# Log all kernel messages, authentication messages of 192# level notice or higher and anything of level err or 193# higher to the console. 194# Don't log private authentication messages! 195*.err;kern.*;auth.notice;authpriv.none /dev/console 196 197# Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher. 198# Don't log private authentication messages! 199*.info;mail.none;authpriv.none /var/log/messages 200 201# The authpriv file has restricted access. 202authpriv.* /var/log/secure 203 204# Log all the mail messages in one place. 205mail.* /var/log/maillog 206 207# Everybody gets emergency messages, plus log them on another 208# machine. 209*.emerg * 210*.emerg @arpa.berkeley.edu 211 212# Root and Eric get alert and higher messages. 213*.alert root,eric 214 215# Save mail and news errors of level err and higher in a 216# special file. 217uucp,news.crit /var/log/spoolerr 218.Ed 219.Sh SEE ALSO 220.Xr syslog 3 , 221.Xr syslogd 8 222.Sh HISTORY 223The 224.Nm 225file appeared in 226.Bx 4.3 , 227along with 228.Xr syslogd 8 . 229.Sh BUGS 230The effects of multiple selectors are sometimes not intuitive. 231For example ``mail.crit,*.err'' will select ``mail'' facility messages at 232the level of ``err'' or higher, not at the level of ``crit'' or higher. 233