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From: apollo@ucbvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.computers.apollo
Subject: Re: ApolloHelp: syslog error message
Message-ID: <8512111036.AA07175@yale-cheops.YALE.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 10-Dec-85 10:30:58 EST
Article-I.D.: yale-che.8512111036.AA07175
Posted: Tue Dec 10 10:30:58 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Dec-85 00:43:59 EST
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Approved: apollo@yale-comix.arpa

In-Reply-To: dennis%bugs@nosc.ARPA (Dennis Cottel), sun, 8 dec 85 23:00:14

    Summary: need help with Domain/IX, Mail, and syslog
    
Let me try to explain this situation:

First, the message "syslog: socket: IO error" means that when syslog(3)
tried to do a "socket" call, it failed.  (This is standard 4.2 behavior.)
This can happen if TCP service is not available (i.e. you don't have
a TCP server running on your node or you don't have a link to a node
that IS running one).

If syslog(3) fails in "socket", the standard 4.2 "syslog" then tries
to write its output to "/dev/console".  Since this doesn't seem
particularly desirable (even if we had a "/dev/console" -- which we don't
have right now -- it seems wrong to blat out "syslog" messages to it),
we made it try to create/open "/dev/../syslog" (which is
"`node_data/syslog" expressed in a slightly peculiar way).  I don't
know why it wasn't able to create the "syslog" file, except perhaps
because you have things protected strangely.

Note that if you have TCP installed, but aren't running syslog(8), logging
messages will simply be dropped on the floor.  (Again, this is standard
4.2 behavior.)

So, in short, if you don't have TCP installed, there's no way to suppress
the "IO error" message.

As for running "syslog" and its returning immediately, this is what it
appears to do.  However, it forks off a copy of itself and the parent
then exits so if you do a "ps", you should see a "syslog" process off
in the background.  (Once more -- standard 4.2 behavior.)

Anyway, I was the one who tested the whole sendmail/syslog mess for sr9
and it worked for me.  I know also that some customers are using it
successfully.  If you are still having problems, let me know.

                -- Nat Mishkin
                   {yale, wanginst, uw-beaver}!apollo!mishkin
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