SYSLOG(3)		   Linux Programmer's Manual		     SYSLOG(3)



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

SYNOPSIS
       #include <syslog.h>

       void openlog(const char *ident, int option, int facility);
       void syslog(int priority, const char *format, ...);
       void closelog(void);

       void vsyslog(int priority, const char *format, va_list ap);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       vsyslog():
	   Since glibc 2.19:
	       _DEFAULT_SOURCE
	   Glibc 2.19 and earlier:
	       _BSD_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION
       closelog() closes the file 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 prepended to every message, and is typi-
       cally set to the program name.  If ident is NULL, the program  name  is
       used.  (POSIX.1-2008 does not specify the behavior when ident is NULL.)

       The  option  argument  specifies	 flags	which control the operation of
       openlog() and subsequent calls  to  syslog().   The  facility  argument
       establishes  a  default	to  be used if none is specified in subsequent
       calls to syslog().  Values for option and  facility  are	 given	below.
       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  sys-
       logd(8).	 The priority argument is formed by ORing the facility and the
       level values (explained below).	The remaining arguments are a  format,
       as  in  printf(3) and any arguments required by the format, except that
       the two character sequence %m will be replaced  by  the	error  message
       string strerror(errno).	A trailing newline may be added if needed.

       The function vsyslog() performs the same task as syslog() with the dif-
       ference that it takes a set of arguments which have been obtained using
       the stdarg(3) variable argument list macros.

       The  subsections	 below	list  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 connec-
		      tion is opened when the first message is logged).

       LOG_NOWAIT     Don't wait for child processes that may have  been  cre-
		      ated while logging the message.  (The GNU C library does
		      not create a child process, so this option has no effect
		      on Linux.)

       LOG_ODELAY     The converse of LOG_NDELAY; opening of the connection is
		      delayed until syslog() is called.	 (This is the default,
		      and need not be specified.)

       LOG_PERROR     (Not  in POSIX.1-2001 or POSIX.1-2008.)  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  log-
       ging  the  message.  This lets the configuration file specify that mes-
       sages from different facilities will be handled differently.

       LOG_AUTH	      security/authorization messages

       LOG_AUTHPRIV   security/authorization messages (private)

       LOG_CRON	      clock daemon (cron and at)

       LOG_DAEMON     system daemons without separate facility value

       LOG_FTP	      ftp daemon

       LOG_KERN	      kernel messages (these can't be generated from user pro-
		      cesses)

       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(8)

       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

       The function setlogmask(3) can be used to restrict logging to specified
       levels only.

ATTRIBUTES
       For   an	  explanation	of   the  terms	 used  in  this	 section,  see
       attributes(7).

       +----------------------+---------------+--------------------+
       |Interface	      | Attribute     | Value		   |
       +----------------------+---------------+--------------------+
       |openlog(), closelog() | Thread safety | MT-Safe		   |
       +----------------------+---------------+--------------------+
       |syslog(), vsyslog()   | Thread safety | MT-Safe env locale |
       +----------------------+---------------+--------------------+
CONFORMING TO
       The functions openlog(), closelog(), and syslog() (but  not  vsyslog())
       are  specified  in SUSv2, POSIX.1-2001, and POSIX.1-2008.  POSIX.1-2001
       specifies only the LOG_USER and LOG_LOCAL* values for  facility.	  How-
       ever,  with the exception of LOG_AUTHPRIV and LOG_FTP, the other facil-
       ity values appear on most  UNIX	systems.   The	LOG_PERROR  value  for
       option  is not specified by POSIX.1-2001 or POSIX.1-2008, but is avail-
       able in most versions of UNIX.

NOTES
       The argument ident in the call of openlog() is probably	stored	as-is.
       Thus,  if  the  string  it  points  to  is  changed, syslog() may start
       prepending the changed string, and if the string it points to ceases to
       exist,  the  results  are  undefined.  Most portable is to use a string
       constant.

       Never pass a string with user-supplied data as a format, use  the  fol-
       lowing instead:

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

SEE ALSO
       logger(1), setlogmask(3), syslog.conf(5), syslogd(8)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 4.10 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
       latest	  version     of     this    page,    can    be	   found    at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux				  2016-03-15			     SYSLOG(3)