:: RootR ::  Hosting Order Map Login   Secure Inter-Network Operations  
 
syslog(2) - phpMan

Command: man perldoc info search(apropos)  


SYSLOG(2)                           Linux Programmer's Manual                           SYSLOG(2)



NAME
       syslog, klogctl - read and/or clear kernel message ring buffer; set console_loglevel

SYNOPSIS
       int syslog(int type, char *bufp, int len);
                       /* No wrapper provided in glibc */

       /* The glibc interface */
       #include <sys/klog.h>

       int klogctl(int type, char *bufp, int len);

DESCRIPTION
       Note:  Probably,  you are looking for the C library function syslog(), which talks to sys‐
       logd(8); see syslog(3) for details.

       This page describes the kernel syslog() system call, which is used to control  the  kernel
       printk() buffer; the glibc wrapper function for the system call is called klogctl().

   The kernel log buffer
       The  kernel has a cyclic buffer of length LOG_BUF_LEN in which messages given as arguments
       to the kernel function printk() are stored (regardless of their log level).  In early ker‐
       nels,  LOG_BUF_LEN  had  the  value  4096;  from  kernel  1.3.54, it was 8192; from kernel
       2.1.113, it was 16384; since kernel 2.4.23/2.6, the value is a kernel configuration option
       (CONFIG_LOG_BUF_SHIFT,  default  value dependent on the architecture).  Since Linux 2.6.6,
       the size can be queried with command type 10 (see below).

   Commands
       The type argument determines the action taken by this function.  The list below  specifies
       the  values  for  type.   The symbolic names are defined in the kernel source, but are not
       exported to user space; you will either need to use the numbers, or define the names your‐
       self.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CLOSE (0)
              Close the log.  Currently a NOP.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_OPEN (1)
              Open the log.  Currently a NOP.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_READ (2)
              Read  from  the  log.   The call waits until the kernel log buffer is nonempty, and
              then reads at most len bytes into the buffer pointed to by bufp.  The call  returns
              the  number  of bytes read.  Bytes read from the log disappear from the log buffer:
              the information can be read only once.  This is the function executed by the kernel
              when a user program reads /proc/kmsg.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_ALL (3)
              Read  all messages remaining in the ring buffer, placing them in the buffer pointed
              to by bufp.  The call reads the last len bytes from  the  log  buffer  (nondestruc‐
              tively),  but  will  not  read more than was written into the buffer since the last
              "clear ring buffer" command (see command 5 below)).  The call returns the number of
              bytes read.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_CLEAR (4)
              Read  and clear all messages remaining in the ring buffer.  The call does precisely
              the same as for a type of 3, but also executes the "clear ring buffer" command.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CLEAR (5)
              The call executes just the "clear ring buffer" command.  The bufp and len arguments
              are ignored.

              This command does not really clear the ring buffer.  Rather, it sets a kernel book‐
              keeping  variable  that  determines  the  results  returned  by  commands  3  (SYS‐
              LOG_ACTION_READ_ALL)  and 4 (SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_CLEAR).  This command has no effect
              on commands 2 (SYSLOG_ACTION_READ) and 9 (SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_UNREAD).

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_OFF (6)
              The command saves  the  current  value  of  console_loglevel  and  then  sets  con‐
              sole_loglevel  to  minimum_console_loglevel, so that no messages are printed to the
              console.  Before Linux 2.6.32, the command simply sets  console_loglevel  to  mini‐
              mum_console_loglevel.  See the discussion of /proc/sys/kernel/printk, below.

              The bufp and len arguments are ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_ON (7)
              If  a  previous  SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_OFF command has been performed, this command
              restores console_loglevel to the value that was  saved  by  that  command.   Before
              Linux   2.6.32,   this   command   simply  sets  console_loglevel  to  default_con‐
              sole_loglevel.  See the discussion of /proc/sys/kernel/printk, below.

              The bufp and len arguments are ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_CONSOLE_LEVEL (8)
              The call sets console_loglevel to the value given in len, which must be an  integer
              between 1 and 8 (inclusive).  The kernel silently enforces a minimum value of mini‐
              mum_console_loglevel for len.  See the log level section  for  details.   The  bufp
              argument is ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_UNREAD (9) (since Linux 2.4.10)
              The call returns the number of bytes currently available to be read from the kernel
              log buffer via command 2 (SYSLOG_ACTION_READ).  The  bufp  and  len  arguments  are
              ignored.

       SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_BUFFER (10) (since Linux 2.6.6)
              This  command  returns  the  total size of the kernel log buffer.  The bufp and len
              arguments are ignored.

       All commands except 3 and 10 require privilege.  In Linux kernels before  2.6.37,  command
       types  3  and 10 are allowed to unprivileged processes; since Linux 2.6.37, these commands
       are allowed to unprivileged processes  only  if  /proc/sys/kernel/dmesg_restrict  has  the
       value  0.   Before  Linux 2.6.37, "privileged" means that the caller has the CAP_SYS_ADMIN
       capability.  Since Linux 2.6.37,  "privileged"  means  that  the  caller  has  either  the
       CAP_SYS_ADMIN  capability  (now deprecated for this purpose) or the (new) CAP_SYSLOG capa‐
       bility.

   /proc/sys/kernel/printk
       /proc/sys/kernel/printk is a writable file containing four integer values  that  influence
       kernel printk() behavior when printing or logging error messages.  The four values are:

       console_loglevel
              Only  messages  with  a log level lower than this value will be printed to the con‐
              sole.  The default value for this field is DEFAULT_CONSOLE_LOGLEVEL (7), but it  is
              set  to  4  if  the kernel command line contains the word "quiet", 10 if the kernel
              command line contains the word "debug", and to 15 in case of a kernel fault (the 10
              and  15 are just silly, and equivalent to 8).  The value of console_loglevel can be
              set (to a value in the range 1-8) by a syslog() call with a type of 8.

       default_message_loglevel
              This value will be used as the log level for printk() messages that do not have  an
              explicit level.  Up to and including Linux 2.6.38, the hard-coded default value for
              this field was 4 (KERN_WARNING); since Linux 2.6.39, the default value is a defined
              by  the kernel configuration option CONFIG_DEFAULT_MESSAGE_LOGLEVEL, which defaults
              to 4.

       minimum_console_loglevel
              The value in this field is the minimum value to which console_loglevel can be set.

       default_console_loglevel
              This is the default value for console_loglevel.

   The log level
       Every printk() message has its own log level.  If the log level is not  explicitly  speci‐
       fied  as  part  of the message, it defaults to default_message_loglevel.  The conventional
       meaning of the log level is as follows:


       Kernel constant   Level value   Meaning
       KERN_EMERG             0        System is unusable
       KERN_ALERT             1        Action must be taken immediately
       KERN_CRIT              2        Critical conditions
       KERN_ERR               3        Error conditions
       KERN_WARNING           4        Warning conditions
       KERN_NOTICE            5        Normal but significant condition
       KERN_INFO              6        Informational
       KERN_DEBUG             7        Debug-level messages

       The kernel printk() routine will print a message on the console only if it has a log level
       less than the value of console_loglevel.

RETURN VALUE
       For  type  equal  to 2, 3, or 4, a successful call to syslog() returns the number of bytes
       read.  For type 9, syslog() returns the number of bytes currently available to be read  on
       the  kernel  log  buffer.   For type 10, syslog() returns the total size of the kernel log
       buffer.  For other values of type, 0 is returned on success.

       In case of error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
       EINVAL Bad arguments (e.g., bad type; or for type 2, 3, or 4, buf is NULL, or len is  less
              than zero; or for type 8, the level is outside the range 1 to 8).

       ENOSYS This  syslog()  system  call is not available, because the kernel was compiled with
              the CONFIG_PRINTK kernel-configuration option disabled.

       EPERM  An attempt was made to change console_loglevel or clear  the  kernel  message  ring
              buffer  by  a  process  without  sufficient  privilege (more precisely: without the
              CAP_SYS_ADMIN or CAP_SYSLOG capability).

       ERESTARTSYS
              System call was interrupted by a signal; nothing was read.  (This can be seen  only
              during a trace.)

CONFORMING TO
       This  system call is Linux-specific and should not be used in programs intended to be por‐
       table.

NOTES
       From the very start, people noted that it is unfortunate that a system call and a  library
       routine of the same name are entirely different animals.

SEE ALSO
       syslog(3), capabilities(7)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.74 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 http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux                                       2014-07-08                                  SYSLOG(2)


/man
rootr.net - man pages