[CentOS] dmesg and messages differences

[John R Pierce]

On 01/20/11 10:02 AM, Keith Roberts wrote:
> Hi everyone.
>
> I just wondered what's the difference between
> /var/log/dmesg, and /var/log/messages?

/var/log/dmesg is a dump of the output of the dmesg command shortly 
after boot by rc.sysinit.   this is done because the kernel message 
buffer that dmesg (8) dumps often overflows and wraps during normal 
operations with crud like...

TCP: Treason uncloaked! Peer 87.181.155.69:49289/8068 shrinks window 
3515263916:3515269047. Repaired.

/var/log/messages is the catch-all for syslogd (8), and is updated 
constantly.