From 04d58d529a61f3bba2c1a843bc2793923a005759 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Alexander Ziaee Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2026 03:23:17 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] manuals: System message vs kernel message Wordsmith mentions throughout the manual of syslog and dmesg, to clearly differentiate them in an externally consisteny way, increasing operator onboarding speed and elegance. The daemon that handles general system messages, syslog, describes them as "system messages", and "messages" is the standard filename. Rewrite syslog related manual titles to align search results with this, and hier entries to align the index. Use care to maintain keywords and not add extra lines. Newsyslog trades "maintain" with "rotate" for visibility. MFC after: 3 days Reviewed by: markj Closes: https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/pull/2067 --- lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 | 4 ++-- sbin/dmesg/dmesg.8 | 6 +++--- share/man/man7/hier.7 | 6 +++--- usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.8 | 4 ++-- usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.conf.5 | 6 ++---- usr.sbin/syslogd/syslog.conf.5 | 6 ++---- 6 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-) diff --git a/lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 b/lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 index 62140554f4f..1e316c20d8d 100644 --- a/lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 +++ b/lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" -.Dd July 3, 2023 +.Dd March 8, 2026 .Dt SYSLOG 3 .Os .Sh NAME @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ .Nm openlog , .Nm closelog , .Nm setlogmask -.Nd control system log +.Nd control system message log .Sh LIBRARY .Lb libc .Sh SYNOPSIS diff --git a/sbin/dmesg/dmesg.8 b/sbin/dmesg/dmesg.8 index f9b9fce82ff..d84587b6147 100644 --- a/sbin/dmesg/dmesg.8 +++ b/sbin/dmesg/dmesg.8 @@ -25,12 +25,12 @@ .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" -.Dd May 7, 2022 +.Dd March 7, 2026 .Dt DMESG 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm dmesg -.Nd "display the system message buffer" +.Nd display the kernel message buffer .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl ac @@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm -utility displays the contents of the system message buffer. +utility displays the contents of the kernel message buffer. If the .Fl M option is not specified, the buffer is read from the currently running kernel diff --git a/share/man/man7/hier.7 b/share/man/man7/hier.7 index 6abce682b62..5482e5ea5c9 100644 --- a/share/man/man7/hier.7 +++ b/share/man/man7/hier.7 @@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ Explicitly distrusted certificates; see kernel state defaults; see .Xr sysctl.conf 5 .It Pa syslog.conf -system log configuration +system message log configuration .It Pa ttys tty creation configuration; see .Xr getty 8 @@ -851,7 +851,7 @@ default log for system daemons .It Pa devd.log default log for device state change daemon .It Pa dmesg.today -system message buffer log, rotates to +kernel message buffer log, rotates to .Pa dmesg.yesterday .It Pa debug.log undiscarded debug syslog messages @@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ logs for the line printer spooler daemon; see .Xr sendmail 8 log, rotates and compresses to maillog.0.bz2 .It Pa messages -general system log; see +general system message log; see .Xr syslogd 8 .It Pa mount.today currently loaded diff --git a/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.8 b/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.8 index aa89ef4b779..eb927f7e0a6 100644 --- a/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.8 +++ b/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.8 @@ -14,12 +14,12 @@ .\" the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is .\" provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. .\" -.Dd September 22, 2025 +.Dd March 8, 2026 .Dt NEWSYSLOG 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm newsyslog -.Nd maintain system log files to manageable sizes +.Nd rotate system message log files to maintain manageable sizes .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl CFNPnrsv diff --git a/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.conf.5 b/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.conf.5 index b0c1e78eb08..1683a1018f9 100644 --- a/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.conf.5 +++ b/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.conf.5 @@ -18,14 +18,12 @@ .\" the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is .\" provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. .\" -.Dd February 4, 2026 +.Dd March 8, 2026 .Dt NEWSYSLOG.CONF 5 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm newsyslog.conf -.Nd -.Xr newsyslog 8 -configuration file +.Nd system message log rotator configuration file .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm diff --git a/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslog.conf.5 b/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslog.conf.5 index 691f2cdd706..f641aedee3e 100644 --- a/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslog.conf.5 +++ b/usr.sbin/syslogd/syslog.conf.5 @@ -25,14 +25,12 @@ .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" -.Dd December 10, 2020 +.Dd March 8, 2026 .Dt SYSLOG.CONF 5 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm syslog.conf -.Nd -.Xr syslogd 8 -configuration file +.Nd syslogd system message log configuration file .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm