[CentOS] rsyslog.conf - why the "-" in this entry? mail.* -/var/log/maillog

Leonard den Ottolander leonard at den.ottolander.nl
Tue Jun 5 15:06:32 UTC 2012


Hello James,

On Tue, 2012-06-05 at 10:30 -0400, James B. Byrne wrote:
> In dealing with an unrelated issue I came across this in rsyslog.conf.
> 
> # The authpriv file has restricted access.
> authpriv.*                                       /var/log/secure
> # Log all the mail messages in one place.
> mail.*                                           -/var/log/maillog
> # Log cron stuff
> cron.*                                           /var/log/cron
> 
> Why is there a "-" before /var/log/maillog?

Better question than it appears at first glance ;) . Nothing in man
rsyslog.conf on C6, but on C5 man syslog.conf it says under "ACTIONS",
"Regular File": 

"You may prefix each entry with the minus ‘‘-’’ sign to omit syncing the
file  after every logging.  Note that you might lose information if the
system crashes right behind a write attempt.  Nevertheless  this  might
give you back some performance, especially if you run programs that use
logging in a very verbose manner."

Now whether that minus is still supported under C6 I can't tell you :) .

Regards,
Leonard.

-- 
mount -t life -o ro /dev/dna /genetic/research





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