http://www.balabit.com/products/syslog_ng/reference/x737.html has this: destination d_messages { file("/var/log/messages" log_fifo_size(1000); }; ...but it's missing a closing parenthesis, should look like this: destination d_messages { file("/var/log/messages" log_fifo_size(1000) ); }; I know it's being picky, but it is the reference manual after all. ;)