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NAME

       syslog, klogctl - read and/or clear kernel message ring buffer; set console_loglevel

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/klog.h>        /* Definition of SYSLOG_* constants */
       #include <sys/syscall.h>     /* Definition of SYS_* constants */
       #include <unistd.h>

       int syscall(SYS_syslog, int type, char *bufp, int len);

       /* The glibc interface */
       #include <sys/klog.h>

       int klogctl(int type, char *bufp, int len);

DESCRIPTION

       Note:  Probably,  you  are  looking  for  the  C library function syslog(), which talks to
       syslogd(8); see syslog(3) for details.

       This page describes the kernel syslog() system call, which is used to control  the  kernel
       printk() buffer; the glibc wrapper function for the system call is called klogctl().

   The kernel log buffer
       The  kernel has a cyclic buffer of length LOG_BUF_LEN in which messages given as arguments
       to the kernel function printk() are stored (regardless of  their  log  level).   In  early
       kernels,  LOG_BUF_LEN  had  the  value  4096;  from  Linux 1.3.54, it was 8192; from Linux
       2.1.113, it was 16384; since Linux 2.4.23/2.6, the value is a kernel configuration  option
       (CONFIG_LOG_BUF_SHIFT,  default  value dependent on the architecture).  Since Linux 2.6.6,
       the size can be queried with command type 10 (see below).

   Commands
       The type argument determines the action taken by this function.  The list below  specifies
       the  values  for  type.   The symbolic names are defined in the kernel source, but are not
       exported to user space; you will either need to use  the  numbers,  or  define  the  names
       yourself.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CLOSE (0)
              Close the log.  Currently a NOP.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_OPEN (1)
              Open the log.  Currently a NOP.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_READ (2)
              Read  from  the  log.   The call waits until the kernel log buffer is nonempty, and
              then reads at most len bytes into the buffer pointed to by bufp.  The call  returns
              the  number  of bytes read.  Bytes read from the log disappear from the log buffer:
              the information can be read only once.  This is the function executed by the kernel
              when a user program reads /proc/kmsg.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_ALL (3)
              Read  all messages remaining in the ring buffer, placing them in the buffer pointed
              to  by  bufp.   The  call  reads  the  last  len  bytes   from   the   log   buffer
              (nondestructively),  but  will not read more than was written into the buffer since
              the last "clear ring buffer" command (see command 5 below)).  The call returns  the
              number of bytes read.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_CLEAR (4)
              Read  and clear all messages remaining in the ring buffer.  The call does precisely
              the same as for a type of 3, but also executes the "clear ring buffer" command.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CLEAR (5)
              The call executes just the "clear ring buffer" command.  The bufp and len arguments
              are ignored.

              This  command  does  not  really  clear  the ring buffer.  Rather, it sets a kernel
              bookkeeping  variable  that  determines  the  results  returned   by   commands   3
              (SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_ALL)  and  4  (SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_CLEAR).   This command has no
              effect on commands 2 (SYSLOG_ACTION_READ) and 9 (SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_UNREAD).

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_OFF (6)
              The  command  saves  the  current  value  of   console_loglevel   and   then   sets
              console_loglevel  to  minimum_console_loglevel,  so that no messages are printed to
              the console.  Before Linux 2.6.32, the  command  simply  sets  console_loglevel  to
              minimum_console_loglevel.  See the discussion of /proc/sys/kernel/printk, below.

              The bufp and len arguments are ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_ON (7)
              If  a  previous  SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_OFF command has been performed, this command
              restores console_loglevel to the value that was  saved  by  that  command.   Before
              Linux     2.6.32,     this     command     simply    sets    console_loglevel    to
              default_console_loglevel.  See the discussion of /proc/sys/kernel/printk, below.

              The bufp and len arguments are ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_LEVEL (8)
              The call sets console_loglevel to the value given in len, which must be an  integer
              between  1  and  8  (inclusive).   The  kernel silently enforces a minimum value of
              minimum_console_loglevel for len.  See the log level section for details.  The bufp
              argument is ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_UNREAD (9) (since Linux 2.4.10)
              The call returns the number of bytes currently available to be read from the kernel
              log buffer via command 2 (SYSLOG_ACTION_READ).  The  bufp  and  len  arguments  are
              ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_BUFFER (10) (since Linux 2.6.6)
              This  command  returns  the  total size of the kernel log buffer.  The bufp and len
              arguments are ignored.

       All commands except 3 and 10 require privilege.  In Linux  kernels  before  Linux  2.6.37,
       command  types  3  and 10 are allowed to unprivileged processes; since Linux 2.6.37, these
       commands are allowed to unprivileged processes only if /proc/sys/kernel/dmesg_restrict has
       the   value  0.   Before  Linux  2.6.37,  "privileged"  means  that  the  caller  has  the
       CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.  Since Linux 2.6.37, "privileged"  means  that  the  caller  has
       either  the  CAP_SYS_ADMIN  capability  (now  deprecated  for  this  purpose) or the (new)
       CAP_SYSLOG capability.

   /proc/sys/kernel/printk
       /proc/sys/kernel/printk is a writable file containing four integer values  that  influence
       kernel printk() behavior when printing or logging error messages.  The four values are:

       console_loglevel
              Only  messages  with  a  log  level  lower  than  this value will be printed to the
              console.  The default value for this field is DEFAULT_CONSOLE_LOGLEVEL (7), but  it
              is  set to 4 if the kernel command line contains the word "quiet", 10 if the kernel
              command line contains the word "debug", and to 15 in case of a kernel fault (the 10
              and  15 are just silly, and equivalent to 8).  The value of console_loglevel can be
              set (to a value in the range 1–8) by a syslog() call with a type of 8.

       default_message_loglevel
              This value will be used as the log level for printk() messages that do not have  an
              explicit level.  Up to and including Linux 2.6.38, the hard-coded default value for
              this field was 4 (KERN_WARNING); since Linux 2.6.39, the default value  is  defined
              by  the kernel configuration option CONFIG_DEFAULT_MESSAGE_LOGLEVEL, which defaults
              to 4.

       minimum_console_loglevel
              The value in this field is the minimum value to which console_loglevel can be set.

       default_console_loglevel
              This is the default value for console_loglevel.

   The log level
       Every printk() message has its own  log  level.   If  the  log  level  is  not  explicitly
       specified   as  part  of  the  message,  it  defaults  to  default_message_loglevel.   The
       conventional meaning of the log level is as follows:

       Kernel constant   Level value   Meaning
       KERN_EMERG             0        System is unusable
       KERN_ALERT             1        Action  must  be   taken
                                       immediately
       KERN_CRIT              2        Critical conditions
       KERN_ERR               3        Error conditions
       KERN_WARNING           4        Warning conditions
       KERN_NOTICE            5        Normal  but  significant
                                       condition
       KERN_INFO              6        Informational
       KERN_DEBUG             7        Debug-level messages

       The kernel printk() routine will print a message on the console only if it has a log level
       less than the value of console_loglevel.

RETURN VALUE

       For  type  equal  to 2, 3, or 4, a successful call to syslog() returns the number of bytes
       read.  For type 9, syslog() returns the number of bytes currently available to be read  on
       the  kernel  log  buffer.   For type 10, syslog() returns the total size of the kernel log
       buffer.  For other values of type, 0 is returned on success.

       In case of error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       EINVAL Bad arguments (e.g., bad type; or for type 2, 3, or 4, buf is NULL, or len is  less
              than zero; or for type 8, the level is outside the range 1 to 8).

       ENOSYS This  syslog()  system  call is not available, because the kernel was compiled with
              the CONFIG_PRINTK kernel-configuration option disabled.

       EPERM  An attempt was made to change console_loglevel or clear  the  kernel  message  ring
              buffer  by  a  process  without  sufficient  privilege (more precisely: without the
              CAP_SYS_ADMIN or CAP_SYSLOG capability).

       ERESTARTSYS
              System call was interrupted by a signal; nothing was read.  (This can be seen  only
              during a trace.)

STANDARDS

       Linux.

HISTORY

       From  the very start, people noted that it is unfortunate that a system call and a library
       routine of the same name are entirely different animals.

SEE ALSO

       dmesg(1), syslog(3), capabilities(7)