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

[Steven Tardy]

On 06/05/2012 09:30 AM, James B. Byrne wrote:
> In dealing with an unrelated issue I came across this in rsyslog.conf.
> mail.*                                           -/var/log/maillog

> Why is there a "-" before /var/log/maillog?

man syslog.conf
         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.