Go to file
Joachim Nilsson 1f4877e21f Disable clang temporarily for Coverity Scan run
Signed-off-by: Joachim Nilsson <troglobit@gmail.com>
2019-11-05 09:01:24 +01:00
docs Update TODO with progress 2019-11-05 08:59:28 +01:00
example Add stand-alone example program w/ Makefile and README 2019-11-05 08:32:43 +01:00
lib Mark strlcat() and strlcpy() as weak functions, for libsyslog 2019-11-04 11:04:13 +01:00
man Document difference in log formats between RFC3164 and RFC5424 2019-11-03 12:19:57 +01:00
src Clarify comment, _PATH_LOG applies to *sysklogd project* 2019-11-05 08:57:15 +01:00
test Fix syslog() and syslogp() message formatting in API test 2019-11-04 20:10:36 +01:00
.gitignore Silence autoconf, use an m4/ sub-directory for macros 2019-11-03 17:30:59 +01:00
.travis.yml Disable clang temporarily for Coverity Scan run 2019-11-05 09:01:24 +01:00
autogen.sh Relocate files to man/ and src/ and change to GNU configure & build 2018-08-02 22:52:40 +02:00
ChangeLog.md Update ChangeLog in preparation for v2.0 2019-10-13 14:57:05 +02:00
configure.ac Add stand-alone example program w/ Makefile and README 2019-11-05 08:32:43 +01:00
COPYING Update GPL to latest revision, FSF address change + minor fixups 2019-10-12 10:42:24 +02:00
klogd.service.in Add pointers to service man pages in unit files 2018-08-05 19:20:17 +02:00
Makefile.am Add stand-alone example program w/ Makefile and README 2019-11-05 08:32:43 +01:00
README.md Document how to use -lsyslog 2019-11-04 06:00:18 +01:00
syslog.conf Update example syslog.conf with relevant and modern defaults 2019-11-03 12:19:37 +01:00
syslogd.service.in Add pointers to service man pages in unit files 2018-08-05 19:20:17 +02:00

                  .--.  .--.              .--.
.-----.--.--.-----|  |--|  :-----.-----.--|  |
|__ --|  |  |__ --|    <|  |  _  |  _  |  _  |    RFC3164 :: syslogd for Linux
|_____|___  |_____|__|__|__|_____|___  |_____|    RFC5424 :: w/NetBSD syslogp()
      |_____|                    |_____|

Aug 24 05:14:15 192.0.2.1 myproc[8710]: Kilroy was here.
2019-11-04T00:50:15.001234+01:00 troglobit myproc 8710 - - Kilroy was here.

License Badge Travis Status Coverity Status

Table of Contents

Introduction

This is the continuation of the original Debian/Ubuntu syslog daemon, updated with full RFC3164 and RFC5424 support from NetBSD and FreeBSD. The package includes the libsyslog.{a,so} library and a syslog.h header file replacement, two system log daemons, syslogd and klogd, and one command line tool called logger.

libsyslog and syslog/syslog.h, derived directly from NetBSD, expose syslogp() and other new features available only in RFC5424:

The syslogd daemon is an enhanced version of the standard Berkeley utility program, updated with DNA from FreeBSD. It is responsible for providing logging of messages received from programs and facilities on the local host as well as from remote hosts. Although compatible with standard C-library implementations of the syslog() API (GLIBC, musl libc, uClibc), libsyslog must be used in your application to unlock the new RFC5424 syslogp() API.

The klogd daemon listens to kernel message sources and is responsible for prioritizing and processing operating system messages. The klogd daemon can run as a client of syslogd or optionally as a standalone program. klogd can now be used to decode EIP addresses if it can determine a System.map file.

The included logger tool can be used from the command line, or script, to send RFC5424 formatted messages using libsyslog to syslogd for local or remote logging.

Main differences from the original sysklogd package are:

  • Support for include /etc/syslog.d/*.conf, see example .conf
  • Built-in log-rotation support, with compression by default, useful for embedded systems. No need for cron and a separate logrotate daemon
  • Full RFC3164 and RFC5424 support
  • Includes timestamp and hostname, RFC3164 style, in remote logging
  • Support for sending RFC5424 style remote syslog messages
  • Includes a logger tool with RFC5424 capabilities (msgid etc.)
  • Includes a library and system header replacement for logging
  • FreeBSD socket receive buffer size patch
  • Avoid blocking syslogd if console is backed up
  • Touch PID file on SIGHUP, for integration with Finit
  • GNU configure & build system to ease porting/cross-compiling
  • Support for configuring remote syslog timeout

Using -lsyslog

libsyslog is by default installed as a library with a header file:

#include <syslog/syslog.h>

The output from the pkg-config tool holds no surprises:

$ pkg-config --libs --static --cflags libsyslog
-I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib -lsyslog

The prefix path /usr/local/ shown here is only the default. Use the configure script to select a different prefix when installing libsyslog.

For GNU autotools based projects, use the following in configure.ac:

# Check for required libraries
PKG_CHECK_MODULES([syslog], [libsyslog >= 2.0])

and in your Makefile.am:

proggy_CFLAGS = $(syslog_CFLAGS)
proggy_LDADD  = $(syslog_LIBS)

Build & Install

The GNU Configure & Build system use /usr/local as the default install prefix. In many cases this is useful, but this means the configuration files and cache files will also use that same prefix. Most users have come to expect those files in /etc/ and /var/run/ and configure has a few useful options that are recommended to use:

$ ./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
$ make -j5
$ sudo make install-strip

You may want to remove the --prefix=/usr option.

Building from GIT

If you want to contribute, or just try out the latest but unreleased features, then you need to know a few things about the GNU build system:

  • configure.ac and a per-directory Makefile.am are key files
  • configure and Makefile.in are generated from autogen.sh, they are not stored in GIT but automatically generated for the release tarballs
  • Makefile is generated by configure script

To build from GIT you first need to clone the repository and run the autogen.sh script. This requires automake and autoconf to be installed on your system.

git clone https://github.com/troglobit/sysklogd.git
cd sysklogd/
./autogen.sh
./configure && make

GIT sources are a moving target and are not recommended for production systems, unless you know what you are doing!

Origin & References

This is the continuation of the original sysklogd by Martin Schulze. Now maintained and heavilty updated by Joachim Nilsson. Please file bug reports, or send pull requests for bug fixes and proposed extensions at GitHub.