[logs] Error messages from syslogd

[Mordechai T. Abzug]

On Wed, Jul 11, 2007 at 05:24:15PM -0400, Marcus J. Ranum wrote:

> ... Apparently they still teach kids in computer 'science' to check all
> return codes and error conditions - and now they appear to be
> teaching that:
> "All return codes and error conditions belong in syslog..."

And what's wrong with this?

I do this, but I didn't learn it in school.  I learned it the hard way
while working as a sysadmin+programmer.  If a process suddenly stops
working due to some obscure error condition that I thought would never
happen, and I get a call in the middle of the night complaining that
the system isn't working, I'm going to have a *much* better chance of
fixing it if an actual error message indicating the (previously
thought unlikely) reason got logged.  Isn't this one of the main
values of having a logging system, if not *the* main value?

- Morty