syslog

syslog is UNIX's general-purpose logging mechanism and consists of the following:

• syslog()—an application program interface (API) referenced by several standard system utilities and available to anyone writing software in the C programming language (this topic will not be explored further in this book)

• logger—a UNIX command used to add single-line entries to the system log

• /etc/syslog.conf—the configuration file used to control the logging and routing of system log events

• syslogd—the system daemon used to receive and route system log events from syslog() calls and logger commands