SYSLOG(3) Linux Programmer's Manual SYSLOG(3)
NAME
closelog, openlog, syslog - send messages to the system logger
SYNOPSIS
#include<syslog.h>
voidopenlog(constchar*ident,int option,int facility);
voidsyslog(int priority,constchar*format,...);
voidcloselog(void);
#include<stdarg.h>
voidvsyslog(int priority,constchar*format,va_list ap);
DESCRIPTION
closelog() closes the descriptor being used to write to the system log-
ger. The use of closelog() is optional.
openlog() opens a connection to the system logger for a program. The
string pointed to by ident is prepended to every message, and is typi-
cally set to the program name. The option argument specifies flags
which control the operation of openlog() and subsequent calls to sys-
log(). The facility argument establishes a default to be used if none
is specified in subsequent calls to syslog(). Values for option and
facility are given below. The use of openlog() is optional; it will
automatically be called by syslog() if necessary, in which case ident
will default to NULL.
syslog() generates a log message, which will be distributed by sys-
logd(8). The priority argument is formed by ORing the facility and the
level values (explained below). The remaining arguments are a format,
as in printf(3) and any arguments required by the format, except that
the two character sequence %m will be replaced by the error message
string strerror(errno). A trailing newline is added when needed.
The function vsyslog() performs the same task as syslog() with the dif-
ference that it takes a set of arguments which have been obtained using
the stdarg(3) variable argument list macros.
PARAMETERS
This section lists the parameters used to set the values of option,
facility, and priority.
option
The option argument to openlog() is an OR of any of these:
LOG_CONS
Write directly to system console if there is an error while
sending to system logger.
LOG_NDELAY
Open the connection immediately (normally, the connection is
opened when the first message is logged).
LOG_NOWAIT
Don't wait for child processes that may have been created while
logging the message. (The GNU C library does not create a child
process, so this option has no effect on Linux.)
LOG_ODELAY
The converse of LOG_NDELAY; opening of the connection is delayed
until syslog() is called. (This is the default, and need not be
specified.)
LOG_PERROR
(Not in SUSv3.) Print to stderr as well.
LOG_PID
Include PID with each message.
facility
The facility argument is used to specify what type of program is log-
ging the message. This lets the configuration file specify that mes-
sages from different facilities will be handled differently.
LOG_AUTH
security/authorization messages (DEPRECATED Use LOG_AUTHPRIV
instead)
LOG_AUTHPRIV
security/authorization messages (private)
LOG_CRON
clock daemon (cron and at)
LOG_DAEMON
system daemons without separate facility value
LOG_FTP
ftp daemon
LOG_KERN
kernel messages
LOG_LOCAL0 through LOG_LOCAL7
reserved for local use
LOG_LPR
line printer subsystem
LOG_MAIL
mail subsystem
LOG_NEWS
USENET news subsystem
LOG_SYSLOG
messages generated internally by syslogd
LOG_USER (default)
generic user-level messages
LOG_UUCP
UUCP subsystem
level
This determines the importance of the message. The levels are, in
order of decreasing importance:
LOG_EMERG
system is unusable
LOG_ALERT
action must be taken immediately
LOG_CRIT
critical conditions
LOG_ERR
error conditions
LOG_WARNING
warning conditions
LOG_NOTICE
normal, but significant, condition
LOG_INFO
informational message
LOG_DEBUG
debug-level message
The function setlogmask(3) can be used to restrict logging to specified
levels only.
CONFORMINGTO
The functions openlog(), closelog(), and syslog() (but not vsyslog())
are specified in SUSv2 and POSIX 1003.1-2001. POSIX 1003.1-2001 speci-
fies only the LOG_USER and LOG_LOCAL* values for facility. However,
with the exception of LOG_AUTHPRIV and LOG_FTP, the other facility val-
ues appear on most Unix systems. The LOG_PERROR value for option is
not specified by POSIX 1003.1-2001, but is available in most versions
of Unix.
HISTORY
A syslog function call appeared in BSD 4.2. BSD 4.3 documents open-
log(), syslog(), closelog(), and setlogmask(). 4.3BSD-Reno also docu-
ments vsyslog(). Of course early v* functions used the <varargs.h>
mechanism, which is not compatible with <stdarg.h>.
NOTES
The parameter ident in the call of openlog() is probably stored as-is.
Thus, if the string it points to is changed, syslog() may start
prepending the changed string, and if the string it points to ceases to
exist, the results are undefined. Most portable is to use a string
constant.
Never pass a string with user-supplied data as a format, use
syslog("%s", string);
instead.
SEEALSO
logger(1), setlogmask(3), syslog.conf(5), syslogd(8)
Linux 2002-01-03 SYSLOG(3)
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