Diyan Christian <sauron@lug.stikom.edu> writes: >> The "-" is used for it to understand the difference between the facility and >> action. Else it will think "kern.*" and "/var/log/newfile" is this: >> "kern.*/var/log/newfile" which is not a valid syslog facility. > > nope....the "-" character just before the arguments (in this case is a file) is used > by syslog to do syncing (direct writes) to disk, rather than queue up first in the > buffers (in case your hardware crashing and you might loosing important logs), > so if performance is your choice over data integrity, you may ommit the > "-" character. Sorry, but I was cursed with a thick skull.. Can you explain a little more detail about this? Do you mean syslogd can be made to write immediately to a file instead of buffering a set amount of data? How can I test this? For example, with syslogd directed to write to a fifo: *.* |/some/fifo I always see a pause when I put a listener on that fifo. I understood the pause to be caused by a buffering situation. Some set amount of data accumulates in the buffer ( I forgot the figure) and then a write happens. Another pause while the buffer fills.. etc. Sounds like what you are saying is that by adding a `-' to the above rule: *.* -|/some/fifo One could force syslogd data to be written to the fifo with no buffering. This could be a way to get full `real time' access to filtered log files. Am I following your point correctly? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe email security-discuss-request@linuxsecurity.com with "unsubscribe" in the subject of the message.