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SYSLOG(3)	       FreeBSD Library Functions Manual		     SYSLOG(3)

NAME
     syslog, vsyslog, openlog, closelog, setlogmask -- control system log

LIBRARY
     Standard C	Library	(libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <syslog.h>
     #include <stdarg.h>

     void
     syslog(int	priority, const	char *message, ...);

     void
     vsyslog(int priority, const char *message,	va_list	args);

     void
     openlog(const char	*ident,	int logopt, int	facility);

     void
     closelog(void);

     int
     setlogmask(int maskpri);

DESCRIPTION
     The syslog() function writes 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 syslogd(8).)

     The message is identical to a printf(3) format string, except that	`%m'
     is	replaced by the	current	error message.	(As denoted by the global
     variable errno; see strerror(3).)	A trailing newline is added if none is
     present.

     The vsyslog() function is an alternate form in which the arguments	have
     already been captured using the variable-length argument facilities of
     stdarg(3).

     The message is tagged with	priority.  Priorities are encoded as a
     facility and a level.  The	facility describes the part of the system gen-
     erating the message.  The level is	selected from the following ordered
     (high to low) list:

     LOG_EMERG	   A panic condition.  This is normally	broadcast to all
		   users.

     LOG_ALERT	   A condition that should be corrected	immediately, such as a
		   corrupted system database.

     LOG_CRIT	   Critical conditions,	e.g., hard device errors.

     LOG_ERR	   Errors.

     LOG_WARNING   Warning messages.

     LOG_NOTICE	   Conditions that are not error conditions, but should	possi-
		   bly be handled specially.

     LOG_INFO	   Informational messages.

     LOG_DEBUG	   Messages that contain information normally of use only when
		   debugging a program.

     The openlog() function provides for more specialized processing of	the
     messages sent by syslog() and vsyslog().  The ident argument is a string
     that will be prepended to every message.  The logopt argument is a	bit
     field specifying logging options, which is	formed by OR'ing one or	more
     of	the following values:

     LOG_CONS	   If syslog() cannot pass the message to syslogd(8) it	will
		   attempt to write the	message	to the console
		   ("/dev/console").

     LOG_NDELAY	   Open	the connection to 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.

     LOG_PERROR	   Write the message to	standard error output as well to the
		   system log.

     LOG_PID	   Log the process id with each	message: useful	for identify-
		   ing instantiations of daemons.  On FreeBSD, this option is
		   enabled by default.

     The facility argument encodes a default facility to be assigned to	all
     messages that do not have an explicit facility encoded:

     LOG_AUTH	   The authorization system: login(1), su(1), getty(8),	etc.

     LOG_AUTHPRIV  The same as LOG_AUTH, but logged to a file readable only by
		   selected individuals.

     LOG_CONSOLE   Messages written to /dev/console by the kernel console out-
		   put driver.

     LOG_CRON	   The cron daemon: cron(8).

     LOG_DAEMON	   System daemons, such	as routed(8), that are not provided
		   for explicitly by other facilities.

     LOG_FTP	   The file transfer protocol daemons: ftpd(8),	tftpd(8).

     LOG_KERN	   Messages generated by the kernel.  These cannot be gener-
		   ated	by any user processes.

     LOG_LPR	   The line printer spooling system: lpr(1), lpc(8), lpd(8),
		   etc.

     LOG_MAIL	   The mail system.

     LOG_NEWS	   The network news system.

     LOG_NTP	   The network time protocol system.

     LOG_SECURITY  Security subsystems,	such as	ipfw(4).

     LOG_SYSLOG	   Messages generated internally by syslogd(8).

     LOG_USER	   Messages generated by random	user processes.	 This is the
		   default facility identifier if none is specified.

     LOG_UUCP	   The uucp system.

     LOG_LOCAL0	   Reserved for	local use.  Similarly for LOG_LOCAL1 through
		   LOG_LOCAL7.

     The closelog() function can be used to close the log file.

     The setlogmask() function sets the	log priority mask to maskpri and re-
     turns the previous	mask.  Calls to	syslog() with a	priority not set in
     maskpri are rejected.  The	mask for an individual priority	pri is calcu-
     lated by the macro	LOG_MASK(pri); the mask	for all	priorities up to and
     including toppri is given by the macro LOG_UPTO(toppri);.	The default
     allows all	priorities to be logged.

RETURN VALUES
     The routines closelog(), openlog(), syslog() and vsyslog()	return no
     value.

     The routine setlogmask() always returns the previous log mask level.

EXAMPLES
	   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_ERR|LOG_LOCAL2, "foobar error: %m");

SEE ALSO
     logger(1),	syslogd(8)

HISTORY
     These functions appeared in 4.2BSD.

BUGS
     Never pass	a string with user-supplied data as a format without using
     `%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 the
     string was	built using a function like snprintf(),	as the resulting
     string may	still contain user-supplied conversion specifiers for later
     interpolation by syslog().

     Always use	the proper secure idiom:

	   syslog(priority, "%s", string);

FreeBSD	13.0			April 12, 2018			  FreeBSD 13.0

NAME | LIBRARY | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUES | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | BUGS

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