Where does linux store my syslog?

Question

I wrote a simple test application to log something in a log file. I am using linux mint and after the application executes I try to view the log using this command: <

Answer 1

I'm running Ubuntu under WSL(Windows Subsystem for Linux) and systemctl start rsyslog didn't work for me.

So what I did is this:

$ service rsyslog start

Now syslog file will appear at /var/log/

Answer 2

Logging is very configurable in Linux, and you might want to look into your /etc/syslog.conf (or perhaps under /etc/rsyslog.d/). Details depend upon the logging subsystem, and the distribution.

Look also into files under /var/log/ (and perhaps run dmesg for kernel logs).

Answer 3

syslog() generates a log message, which will be distributed by syslogd.

The file to configure syslogd is /etc/syslog.conf. This file will tell your where the messages are logged.

How to change options in this file ? Here you go http://www.bo.infn.it/alice/alice-doc/mll-doc/duix/admgde/node74.html

Answer 4

You have to tell the system what information to log and where to put the info. Logging is configured in the /etc/rsyslog.conf file, then restart rsyslog to load the new config. The default logging rules are usually in a /etc/rsyslog.d/50-default.conf file.

Answer 5

On my Ubuntu machine, I can see the output at /var/log/syslog.

On a RHEL/CentOS machine, the output is found in /var/log/messages.

This is controlled by the rsyslog service, so if this is disabled for some reason you may need to start it with systemctl start rsyslog.

As noted by others, your syslog() output would be logged by the /var/log/syslog file.
You can see system, user, and other logs at /var/log.

For more details: here's an interesting link.

Answer 6

Default log location (rhel) are

General messages:

/var/log/messages

Authentication messages:

/var/log/secure

Mail events:

/var/log/maillog

Check your /etc/syslog.conf or /etc/syslog-ng.conf (it depends on which of syslog facility you have installed)

Example:

$ cat /etc/syslog.conf
# Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher.
# Don't log private authentication messages!
*.info;mail.none;authpriv.none         /var/log/messages

# The authpriv file has restricted access.
authpriv.*                             /var/log/secure

# Log all the mail messages in one place.
mail.*                                 /var/log/maillog

#For a start, use this simplified approach.
*.*                                     /var/log/messages