[syslog-ng] why /var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages etc

[Justin Randall]

The basic idea behind this is quite simple.  It simple simply a
preference shared amongst the developers of the distribution and its
software packages.

I don't think you'll find a document providing you with reason for the
differences, as they are purely cosmetic, however if you read up on the
logging mechanisms for a specific distribution you should be able to
find or deduce information regarding that specific distro's logic in
choosing its log file naming scheme.

In the end as you mentioned, it is up to you how you choose you log file
naming scheme.  Common sense is usually a good place to start, such as
avoiding logging kernel logs to a file called 'maillog.log' or
'access.log'.

Hope this helps,

Justin.

-----Original Message-----
From: Zoilo Gomez [mailto:zoilo at xs4all.nl] 
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 9:31 AM
To: syslog-ng at lists.balabit.hu
Subject: [syslog-ng] why /var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages etc

I would be interested in a link to a document, explaining what is the 
idea behind log-files like /var/log/syslog and /var/log/messages etc, 
and why some information is often being written to 2 or more files 
instead of 1.

And why some distros will log DHCP-messages to /var/log/daemon.log, 
while others will use a different log file.

Of course I know that this is all up to myself to decide, but I would 
like to understand better what is the reasoning behind the various
options.

Z.
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