Hi Frank, Someone must have used a so-called "smart" editor to edit this file, since it seems to have used fancy quotes on the console line. #destination console_all { file("/dev/tty12"); }; destination console_all { file(“/dev/console”); }; #destination loghost { udp("loghost" port(999)); }; Notice how they are different from those on the line above? Word processors often replace quotes with matching pairs like that automatically; only plain text editors should be used to edit config files like this. Check for this kind of thing with a hex dumper or 'cat -vet': $ cat frank #destination console_all { file("/dev/tty12"); }; destination console_all { file("/dev/console"); }; #destination loghost { udp("loghost" port(999)); }; $ cat -vet frank #destination console_all { file("/dev/tty12"); };$ destination console_all { file(M-bM-^@M-^\/dev/consoleM-bM-^@M-^]); };$ #destination loghost { udp("loghost" port(999)); };$ Scott