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Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)syslog.3 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93 .\" .Dd August 1, 2022 .Dt SYSLOGP 3 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm syslog , .Nm syslog_r , .Nm vsyslog , .Nm vsyslog_r , .Nm syslogp , .Nm syslogp_r , .Nm vsyslogp , .Nm vsyslogp_r , .Nm openlog , .Nm openlog_r , .Nm closelog , .Nm closelog_r , .Nm setlogmask , .Nm setlogmask_r .Nd control system log .Sh LIBRARY .Lb libc .Sh SYNOPSIS .In syslog.h .Ft void .Fn syslog "int priority" "const char *message" "..." .Ft void .Fn syslog_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "..." .Ft void .Fn syslogp "int priority" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "..." .Ft void .Fn syslogp_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "..." .\" .Ft void .\" .Fn syslog_ss "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "..." .Ft void .Fn openlog "const char *ident" "int logopt" "int facility" .Ft void .Fn openlog_r "const char *ident" "int logopt" "int facility" "struct syslog_data *data" .Ft void .Fn closelog void .Ft void .Fn closelog_r "struct syslog_data *data" .Ft int .Fn setlogmask "int maskpri" .Ft int .Fn setlogmask_r "int maskpri" "struct syslog_data *data" .In stdarg.h .Ft void .Fn vsyslog "int priority" "const char *message" "va_list args" .Ft void .Fn vsyslog_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "va_list args" .Ft void .Fn vsyslogp "int priority" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "va_list args" .Ft void .Fn vsyslogp_r "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *msgid" "const char *sdfmt" "const char *message" "va_list args" .\" .Ft void .\" .Fn vsyslog_ss "int priority" "struct syslog_data *data" "const char *message" "va_list args" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn syslog function writes .Fa message to the system message logger. The message is then written to the system console, log files, logged-in users, or forwarded to other machines as appropriate (see .Xr syslogd 8 ) . .Pp The message is identical to a .Xr printf 3 format string, except that .Ql %m is replaced by the current error message. (As denoted by the global variable .Va errno ; see .Xr strerror 3 . ) A trailing newline is added if none is present. .\" shouldn't the newline statement be removed? .\" when logging through a socket a newline is .\" not added nor is it required. -- ms .Pp The .Fn syslog_r function is a multithread-safe version of the .Fn syslog function. It takes a pointer to a .Fa syslog_data structure which is used to store information. This parameter must be initialized before .Fn syslog_r is called. The .Dv SYSLOG_DATA_INIT constant is used for this purpose. The .Fa syslog_data structure and the .Dv SYSLOG_DATA_INIT constant are defined as: .Bd -literal -offset indent struct syslog_data { int log_version; int log_file; int log_connected; int log_opened; int log_stat; const char *log_tag; const char *log_sockpath; char log_hostname[256]; int log_fac; int log_mask; struct sockaddr *log_host; int log_pid; }; #define SYSLOG_DATA_INIT { \e .log_version = 1, \e .log_file = -1, \e .log_connected = 0, \e .log_opened = 0, \e .log_stat = 0, \e .log_tag = 0, \e .log_sockpath = NULL, \e .log_hostname = { '\\0' }, \e .log_fac = LOG_USER, \e .log_mask = 0xff, \e .log_host = NULL, \e .log_pid = -1, \e } .Ed .Pp The structure is composed of the following elements: .Bl -tag -width connected -offset indent .It Va log_file contains the file descriptor of the file where the message is logged .It Va log_connected indicates if connect has been done .It Va log_opened indicates if .Fn openlog_r has been called .It Va log_stat status bits, set by .Fn openlog_r .It Va log_tag string to tag the entry with .It Va log_sockpath UNIX domain socket used, can be changed by user .It Va log_hostname Hostname used, initialized to .Fn gethostname if unset, can be changed by user .It Va log_fac facility code .It Va log_mask mask of priorities to be logged .It Va log_host .Va struct sockaddr * host to send UDP message to, if set by user, enables logging to a remote syslog server bypassing any local syslog server .It Va log_pid Process ID used in log message header. Can be changed by user, if unset defaults to call .Fn getpid .El .\" .Pp .\" The .\" .Fn syslog_ss .\" is the async-signal-safe version of .\" .Fn syslog_r .\" and is also multithread-safe. .\" It has the following limitations: .\" .Bl -enum -offset indent .\" .It .\" The format string cannot contain multi-byte character sequences. .\" .It .\" Floating point formats are not supported and print .\" .Dq UNK . .\" .It .\" The time of the event is not sent to .\" .Xr syslogd 8 . .\" .It .\" The error string in the %m format is not printed symbolically but as .\" .Dq Error %d . .\" .El .\" .Pp .\" For more information about async-signal-safe functions and signal handlers, see .\" .Xr signal 7 . .Pp The .Fn vsyslog function is an alternative form in which the arguments have already been captured using the variable-length argument facilities of .Xr stdarg 3 . .Pp The .Fn syslogp variants take additional arguments which correspond to new fields in the syslog-protocol message format. All three arguments are evaluated as .Xr printf 3 format strings and any of them can be .Dv NULL . This enables applications to use message IDs, structured data, and UTF-8 encoded content in messages. .Pp The message is tagged with .Fa priority . Priorities are encoded as a .Fa facility and a .Em level . The facility describes the part of the system generating the message. The level is selected from the following .Em ordered (high to low) list: .Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV .It Dv LOG_EMERG A panic condition. This is normally broadcast to all users. .It Dv LOG_ALERT A condition that should be corrected immediately, such as a corrupted system database. .It Dv LOG_CRIT Critical conditions, e.g., hard device errors. .It Dv LOG_ERR Errors. .It Dv LOG_WARNING Warning messages. .It Dv LOG_WARN Warning messages, alias. .It Dv LOG_NOTICE Conditions that are not error conditions, but should possibly be handled specially. .It Dv LOG_INFO Informational messages. .It Dv LOG_DEBUG Messages that contain information normally of use only when debugging a program. .El .Pp The .Fn vsyslog_r is used the same way as .Fn vsyslog except that it takes an additional pointer to a .Fa syslog_data structure. It is a multithread-safe version of the .Fn vsyslog function described above. .\" The .\" .Fn vsyslog_ss .\" is the async-signal-safe version of .\" .Fn vsyslog_r , .\" is also multithread-safe, and has the same limitations as .\" .Fn syslog_ss . .Pp The .Fn openlog function provides for more specialized processing of the messages sent by .Fn syslog and .Fn vsyslog . The parameter .Fa ident is a string that will be prepended to every message. The .Fa logopt argument is a bit field specifying logging options, which is formed by .Tn OR Ns 'ing one or more of the following values: .Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV .It Dv LOG_CONS If .Fn syslog cannot pass the message to .Xr syslogd 8 it will attempt to write the message to the console .Pq Dq Pa /dev/console . .It Dv LOG_NDELAY Open the connection to .Xr syslogd 8 immediately. Normally the open is delayed until the first message is logged. Useful for programs that need to manage the order in which file descriptors are allocated. .It Dv LOG_NLOG Stops syslog from writing to the system log. Only useful with .Dv LOG_PERROR . .It Dv LOG_PERROR Write the message to standard error output as well to the system log. .It Dv LOG_PID Log the process id with each message: useful for identifying instantiations of daemons. (This PID is placed within brackets between the ident and the message.) .It Dv LOG_PTRIM Trim anything syslog added to the message before writing to standard error output. .It Dv LOG_RFC3164 Use RFC3164 (BSD) style log messages, the default is new-style RFC5424. .El .Pp The .Fa facility parameter encodes a default facility to be assigned to all messages that do not have an explicit facility encoded: .Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV .It Dv LOG_AUTH The authorization system: .Xr login 1 , .Xr su 1 , .Xr getty 8 , etc. .It Dv LOG_AUTHPRIV The same as .Dv LOG_AUTH , but logged to a file readable only by selected individuals. .It Dv LOG_CRON The cron daemon: .Xr cron 8 . .It Dv LOG_DAEMON System daemons, such as .Xr routed 8 , that are not provided for explicitly by other facilities. .It Dv LOG_FTP The file transfer protocol daemon: .Xr ftpd 8 . .It Dv LOG_KERN Messages generated by the kernel. These cannot be generated by any user processes. .It Dv LOG_LPR The line printer spooling system: .Xr lpr 1 , .Xr lpc 8 , .Xr lpd 8 , etc. .It Dv LOG_MAIL The mail system. .It Dv LOG_NEWS The network news system. .It Dv LOG_SYSLOG Messages generated internally by .Xr syslogd 8 . .It Dv LOG_USER Messages generated by random user processes. This is the default facility identifier if none is specified. .It Dv LOG_UUCP The uucp system. .It Dv LOG_LOCAL0 Reserved for local use. Similarly for .Dv LOG_LOCAL1 through .Dv LOG_LOCAL7 . .El .Pp The .Fn openlog_r function is the multithread-safe version of the .Fn openlog function. It takes an additional pointer to a .Fa syslog_data structure. This function must be used in conjunction with the other multithread-safe functions. .Pp The .Fn closelog function can be used to close the log file. .Pp The .Fn closelog_r does the same thing as .Xr closelog 3 but in a multithread-safe way and takes an additional pointer to a .Fa syslog_data structure. .Pp The .Fn setlogmask function sets the log priority mask to .Fa maskpri and returns the previous mask. Calls to .Fn syslog with a priority not set in .Fa maskpri are rejected. The mask for an individual priority .Fa pri is calculated by the macro .Fn LOG_MASK pri ; the mask for all priorities up to and including .Fa toppri is given by the macro .Fn LOG_UPTO toppri . The default allows all priorities to be logged. .Pp The .Fn setlogmask_r function is the multithread-safe version of .Fn setlogmask . It takes an additional pointer to a .Fa syslog_data structure. .Sh RETURN VALUES The routines .Fn closelog , .Fn closelog_r , .Fn openlog , .Fn openlog_r , .Fn syslog , .Fn syslog_r , .Fn vsyslog , .Fn vsyslog_r , .Fn syslogp , .Fn syslogp_r , .Fn vsyslogp , and .Fn vsyslogp_r return no value. .Pp The routines .Fn setlogmask and .Fn setlogmask_r always return the previous log mask level. .Sh EXAMPLES .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact syslog(LOG_ALERT, "who: internal error 23"); openlog("ftpd", LOG_PID | LOG_NDELAY, LOG_FTP); setlogmask(LOG_UPTO(LOG_ERR)); syslog(LOG_INFO, "Connection from host %d", CallingHost); syslog(LOG_INFO|LOG_LOCAL2, "foobar error: %m"); syslogp(LOG_INFO|LOG_LOCAL2, NULL, NULL, "foobar error: %m"); syslogp(LOG_INFO, "ID%d", "[meta language=\e"en-US\e"]", "event: %s", 42, EventDescription); .Ed .Pp For the multithread-safe functions: .Bd -literal -offset indent struct syslog_data sdata = SYSLOG_DATA_INIT; syslog_r(LOG_INFO|LOG_LOCAL2, &sdata, "foobar error: %m"); .Ed .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr logger 1 , .Xr syslogd 8 .Rs .%R RFC .%N 3164 .%D August 2001 .%T The BSD syslog Protocol .Re .Rs .%R Internet-Draft .%N draft-ietf-syslog-protocol-23 .%D September 2007 .%T The syslog Protocol .Re .Sh HISTORY These non-multithread-safe functions appeared in .Bx 4.2 . The multithread-safe functions appeared in .Ox 3.1 and then in .Nx 4.0 . The async-signal-safe functions appeared in .Nx 4.0 . The syslog-protocol functions appeared in .Nx 5.0 . .Sh CAVEATS It is important never to pass a string with user-supplied data as a format without using .Ql %s . An attacker can put format specifiers in the string to mangle your stack, leading to a possible security hole. This holds true even if you have built the string .Dq by hand using a function like .Fn snprintf , as the resulting string may still contain user-supplied conversion specifiers for later interpolation by .Fn syslog . .Pp Always be sure to use the proper secure idiom: .Bd -literal -offset indent syslog(priority, "%s", string); .Ed .Pp With .Fn syslogp the caller is responsible to use the right formatting for the message fields. A .Fa msgid must only contain up to 32 ASCII characters. A .Fa sdfmt has strict rules for parenthesis and character quoting. If the .Fa msgfmt contains UTF-8 characters, then it has to start with a Byte Order Mark.