(L)ubuntu 12.04 syslog to custom file (not /var/log/syslog but /var/log/mylog) - ubuntu 12.04

Question

I successfully tested the following syslog "hello world" example on ubuntu 12.04:

// gcc giuspexample.c -o giuspexample

#include <syslog.h>

int  main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    setlogmask(LOG_UPTO (LOG_NOTICE));

    openlog("atm", LOG_CONS | LOG_PID | LOG_NDELAY, LOG_LOCAL0);

    syslog(LOG_NOTICE, "Program started by User %d", getuid ());
    syslog(LOG_INFO, "A tree falls in a forest");

    closelog();
    return 0;
}

and I can read the entry in /var/log/syslog. I followed the instructions on http://www.codealias.info/technotes/syslog_simple_example on how to change the destination filepath

echo "local0.*  /var/log/mylog" >> /etc/syslog.conf

but trying to run

sudo /etc/init.d/syslog restart

doesn't work (command not found) and rebooting the pc anyway doesn't start to write on /var/log/mylog but still on /var/log/syslog. Does anybody know what's wrong? Thanks.

Answer 1

Here's how I succeeded.

In my folder /etc/rsyslog.d there are two files:

20-ufw.conf and 50-default.conf

I added a file:

sudo nano /etc/rsyslog.d/30-mycustomname.conf

With the following content:

# Log QSD Centro generated log messages to file
if $programname == 'centro' then /var/log/centro.log
# Uncomment the following to stop logging anything that matches the last rule.
& ~

Then I check that the file /var/log/centro.log does not exist

sudo rm -f /var/log/centro.log

Then I restart the service

sudo service rsyslog restart

Finally The following code works:

// gcc centro.c -o centro

#include <stdio.h>
#include <syslog.h>

int  main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    openlog(NULL, 0, LOG_USER);

    syslog(LOG_INFO, "MORTACCI TUA!!!");

    closelog();
    return 0;
}

Answer 2

By default Ubuntu uses rsyslog. It's configuration files are in

/etc/rsyslog.conf

And

/etc/rsyslog.conf