OK, I brought this up a while back. (For some reason I can't seem to find the beginning of the topic, but see http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2006/01/msg00238.html ) I got a few comments in favor.
Someone asked what syslog other distros are using. RedHat is still using sysklogd. However, they are discussing switching to syslog-ng for Fedora Core 6 (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FC6Future). SuSE is using syslog-ng. Mandriva is still using sysklogd. I haven't found out about anyone else. Every admin I know switches to something else. :-( Issues: (1) Quality. sysklogd has 105 open bugs: 3 important (1 with patch), 43 normal (11 with patches), 11 minor (4 with patches), and 19 wishlist (some of which are really quite important, such as 44523) The source code is a hairy mess, in my opinion, and I can see why these bugs aren't being fixed. It's been prone to repeated RC bugs, IMO due to the hairiness of the codebase. (I would also really not like to try a licensing audit of this package.) Contrast: syslog-ng: 26 open bugs, 3 important, 9 normal, 2 minor (1 with patch). metalog: 15 open bugs, 1 RC (patched), 2 normal, 1 minor inetutils-syslogd: 3 open bugs (2 normal, 1 wishlist). socklog-run: 1 open bug, wishlist (2) Upstream status. There hasn't been a new upstream for sysklogd since 2001. All of the others are active upstream. (3) Features. Essentially all of the others are considered more featureful. (4) Size. Installed sizes: sysklogd: 204 depends on klogd: 132 total 336 inetutils-syslogd: 104 depends on lsb-base ('required'): 24 depends on zlib1g ('required'): 164 depends on netbase ('important'): 188 (depends on some Essential: yes packages as well) syslog-ng: 492 depends on util-linux ('required'): 992 depends on lsb-base ('required'): 24 (depends on some Essential: yes packages as well) metalog: 132 depends on libpcre3: 380 total: 512 socklog-run: 148 depends on socklog: 244 depends on runit: 488 depends on ipsvd: 384 depends on libmatrixssl1.7: 100 total: 1364 Conclusion ---------- We should change the default syslogd. Size may be an issue. However, except for socklog-run, the alternate syslog packages depend almost entirely on packages which will probably already be installed. If we want the default syslogd to be small, and assume that netbase will be installed, we should default to inetutils-syslogd. If we aren't so worried about size, we should go with syslog-ng or metalog. Probably syslog-ng just for the familiarity of SuSE users. The installer can use whatever seems most appropriate (does it even log?): but based on size, I strongly suspect inetutils-syslogd will be the winner, even over sysklogd. I expect that most of what it needs from netbase will turn out to already be available in the installer. Given the state of sysklogd, I hope that it can be removed entirely from a future release of Debian. -- Nathanael Nerode <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Theocracy, fascism, or absolute monarchy -- I don't care which it is, I don't like it. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
