NAME

     syslogd — log systems messages

SYNOPSIS

     syslogd [-V] [-a socket] [-d] [-f config_file] [-h] [-l host_list] [-m mark_interval] [-n]
             [-p log_socket] [-r] [-s domain_list] [--no-klog] [--no-unixaf] [--no-forward]

DESCRIPTION

     Syslogd 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:

     -V      Print version number and exit.

     --help  Display help information and exit.

     -d      Enter debug mode. syslogd does not put itself in the background, does not fork and
             shows debug information.

     -a      Specify additional sockets from that syslogd has to listen to.  This is needed if
             you are going to let some daemon run within a chroot()'ed environment. You can
             specify up to 19 additional sockets.

     -f, --rcfile=FILE
             Specify the pathname of an alternate configuration file; the default is system
             specific and displayed in the help output.

     --rcdir=DIR
             Specify the pathname of an alternate configuration directory; the default is system
             specific and displayed in the help output.

     -h, --hop
             Enable forwarding remote messages. By default syslogd will not forward messages it
             receives from remote hosts.

     -l      A colon-seperated lists of hosts which should be considered local; they are logged
             by their hostnames instead by their FQDN.

     -m, --mark=INTERVAL/fP
             Select the number of minutes between ``mark'' messages; the default is 20 minutes.
             Setting it to 0 disables timestamps.

     -n, --no-detach
             Suppress backgrounding and detachment of the daemon from its controlling terminal.

     -p, --socket=PATH
             Specify the pathname of an alternate log socket.  The default is systemspecific and
             displayed in the help output.

     -r, --inet
             Enable to receive remote messages using an internet domain socket.  The default is
             to not receive any messages from the network. Older version always accepted remote
             messages.

     -s      A colon-seperated list of domainnames which should be stripped from the FQDNs of
             hosts when logging.

     --no-klog
             Do not listen to the kernel log device. This is only supported on systems which
             define a kernel log device, on all others this is already the default, and the
             option will be silently ignored.

     --no-unixaf
             Do not listen to any unix domain socket. This option overrides -p and -a.

     --no-forward
             Do not forward any messages. This overrides -h.

     Syslogd 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 syslog.conf(5).

     Syslogd reads messages from the UNIX domain socket /dev/log, from an Internet domain socket
     specified in /etc/services, and from the one of the special devices /dev/klog or /proc/kmsg
     depending on the system (to read kernel messages). In a GNU/Linux system it will not parse
     the System.map and use it to annotate the kernel messages.

     Syslogd creates the file /var/run/syslog.pid, and stores its process id there.  This can be
     used to kill or reconfigure syslogd.

     The message sent to syslogd 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,
     ‘⟨5.⟩’ This priority code should map into the priorities defined in the include file
     ⟨sys/syslog.h⟩.

FILES

     /etc/syslog.conf     The configuration file.
     /var/run/syslog.pid  The process id of current syslogd.
     /dev/log             Name of the UNIX domain datagram log socket.
     /dev/klog, /proc/kmsg
                          The kernel log device.

SEE ALSO

     logger(1), syslog(3), services(5), syslog.conf(5)

HISTORY

     The syslogd command appeared in 4.3BSD.