NAME

       closelog, openlog, syslog - send messages to the system logger

SYNOPSIS

       #include <syslog.h>

       void openlog( char *ident, int option, int  facility)

       void syslog( int priority, char *format, ...)

       void closelog( void )

DESCRIPTION

       closelog()  closes  the  descriptor  being used to write to the system logger.  The use of
       closelog() is optional.

       openlog() opens a connection to the system logger for a program.  The string pointed to by
       ident  is  added  to  each  message, and is typically set to the program name.  Values for
       option and facility are given in the next section.  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 syslogd(8).  priority is  a
       combination of the facility and the level, values for which are given in the next section.
       The remaining arguments are a format, as in printf(3) and any arguments  required  by  the
       format,  except  that  the  two  character %m will be replaced by the error message string
       (strerror) corresponding to the present value of errno.

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_PERROR
              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 logging the message.
       This lets the configuration file specify that messages 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
              other system daemons

       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

HISTORY

       A syslog function call appeared in BSD 4.2.

SEE ALSO

       logger(1), syslog.conf(5), syslogd(8)