1.196. sysklogd

An updated sysklogd package that fixes various bugs is now available.

The sysklogd package contains two system utilities (syslogd and klogd) which provide support for system logging. Syslogd and klogd run as daemons (background processes) and log system messages to different places, like sendmail logs, security logs, error logs, etc.

This update addresses the following issues:

* the Red Hat Enterprise Linux syslogd init script creates files which are readable by the root user only whereas the sysklogd(8) man page indicated that "If a file is created it is world readable". The man page has been updated with the correct information. (BZ#460232)

* the "-S" option was added to sysklogd 1.4.1-40, however, this option is not displayed in the "SYNOPSIS" section of the sysklogd man page. This has the potential to mislead users who use the man page for help. The "-S" option has now been added to the "SYNOPSIS" section of the sysklogd man page. (BZ#471174)

* when syslogd was started using the "-m" option with a non-zero argument, the "errno" value of "select" was checked by the functions that log the "MARK" message after the value had been reset from "EINTR" to "EINVAL". This resulted in an incorrect message being logged to "/var/log/messages" of the form; "syslogd: select: Invalid argument". A patch has been applied to store the value of "errno" in a temporary variable prior to it being reset and testing this stored value against "EINTR" for logging purposes. The error message no longer appears in "/var/log/messages" when a non-zero argument is passed to the "-m" option. (BZ#472875)

* syslogd.conf would cause a memory leak by forwarding messages to its IP address, for example "*.*@192.168.122.5". This would result in processes being terminated by the "OOM killer" to free up memory. A patch has been applied to ensure that messages are not self-forwarded. (BZ#481600)

* when syslog messages were logged to the console, line feeds were not inserted resulting in all messages being displayed on a single line. A patch has been applied to ensure that each message appears on a new line. (BZ#490897)

* if the "SIGALRM" signal was triggered during processing of the "writeev()" function, syslog would cease logging to the console and print a "/dev/console: Interrupted system call" message. Additionally, log messages were truncanted in the event that the I/O buffer became full. A patch has been applied to reschedule the "SIGALRM" signal prior to calling the "writeev()" function to ensure messages are correctly displayed to the console. (BZ#506683)

Users of sysklogd should upgrade to this updated package, which resolves these issues.