liblogfaf
Making syslog() not block
liblogfaf (faf stands for fire-and-forget) is a dynamic library that is
designed to be LD_PRELOAD-ed while starting a process that uses openlog() &
syslog() functions to send syslog messages. It overrides logging functions to
make log messages sent as UDP datagrams instead of getting written to /dev/log
(which can block). This is useful for processes that call syslog() as part of
their main execution flow and can therefore be easily broken when /dev/log
buffer gets full, for example when the process that is expected to read from it
(usually system syslog daemon like rsyslog or syslog-ng) stops doing that.
Please note that liblogfaf should not be used in an environment where
reliable log message delivery is required.
Requirements
liblogfaf is known to work on Linux, FreeBSD, and OS X.
Building and installing liblogfaf
- Ensure you have libtool, autoconf, and automake installed;
- run
autoreconf -ito generate autoconf and automake files; - run
./configure. You can pass the '--enable-debug' option to build
liblogfaf in debug mode; makewill build everything;make installwill install the library along with thelogfafscript.
Using liblogfaf
The library comes with a logfaf script that can be used to start any binary
with liblogfaf enabled. For example, if you run:
echo test, logfaf logger
You should see logger sending syslog UDP messages to 127.0.0.1:514
License
MIT license