I have one centos 4.0 server which /var/log/messages was always empty (0 bytes). I wonder what has been blocking the syslog to write the log. Other (syslog) log files are fine, only messages. /etc/syslog.conf: # Log anything (except mail) of level info or higher. # Don't log private authentication messages! *.info;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none;spampd.none -/var/log/messages .thanks