Cameron Katri's Manual Page Server

INTERFACE SUMMARY

asl_log_message(level, format, ...); sends a message to the ASL server syslogd. level is an integer between 7 (ASL_LEVEL_DEBUG) and 0 (ASL_LEVEL_EMERG), indicating the priority of the message. Note that message priority levels are used as the basis of filtering messages in several places in the ASL system. In general, messages with level ASL_LEVEL_DEBUG and ASL_LEVEL_INFO are often excluded from long-term storage, or have shorter time-to-live durations.

format is a printf-like format string. In addition to the conversion specifications supported by printf, asl_log_message() supports the “%m” conversion, which is converted to the current error string returned by the strerror function for the current value of errno.

asl_log_message() is a simplified version of the asl_log() interface. It uses the default (NULL) ASL client handle. This interface is thread-safe, although callers will contend for a mutex lock when using this routine. Applications that log from multiple threads or dispatch queues may experience undesired performance characteristics when using this routine. The use of asl_open() and asl_log(), asl_vlog(), or asl_send() is advised for applications that log from multiple threads.

asl_log(obj, msg, level, format, ...); prepares a message, normally to be sent to the ASL server syslogd. The first parameter, obj, may be an asl_object_t of any type. It is typically of type ASL_TYPE_CLIENT. In this case the settings and options associated with the ASL client handle obj are used when preparing the message. The client may direct the ASL library to print copies of the message to various output files as well as sending it to the ASL server. Filter settings in the client may further direct the library in selecting where the message will be sent, and may in fact prevent the message from being sent to the ASL server at all. ASL client handles are created using asl_open() and are described extensively below.

ASL message are dictionaries. The asl_log() routine combines information carried in the ASL client handle client and the ASL message dictionary msg, together with the format string and the associated arguments to construct a final message to be sent to the ASL server and/or to be written to output files. In general, the ASL client handle will provide the values for the ASL_KEY_SENDER and ASL_KEY_FACILITY keys. If msg is non-NULL, it may override the values for ASL_KEY_SENDER and ASL_KEY_FACILITY, and it may supply additional key/value pairs. The format string and its associated arguments are used to construct a string value for the ASL_KEY_MSG key in the final log message dictionary.

If the obj parameter is of a type other than ASL_TYPE_CLIENT, then asl_log() creates a message as if it were to be sent to syslogd, but rather than sending the message, it stores the message in the obj provided. If obj is of type ASL_TYPE_FILE or ASL_TYPE_STORE that has been opened for writing, then the message is saved to the file or ASL data store. If obj is of type ASL_TYPE_LIST, then the message is appended to the list. If obj is of type ASL_TYPE_MSG, then the message key/value pairs constructed by asl_log() are merged with obj. In a merge operation, existing keys and values in obj are preserved. New values in the asl_log() message are attached. Although this routine works for type ASL_TYPE_QUERY, new key/value pairs are attached with an operation value of zero.

The ASL_PREFILTER_LOG(obj, msg, level, format, ...) macro may be used in place of asl_log() when obj is of type ASL_TYPE_CLIENT. The macro avoids processing the variable argument list in those cases where the message would be filtered out due to filter settings, would not be written to a log file associated with the asl_object_t, or would not be written to stderr. The macro may provide a performance benefit for some applications. Details on filter setting, additional log files, and asl_object_t options are described below in this manual.

asl_vlog(obj, msg, level, format, ap); is similar to asl_log() except that it takes a va_list argument.

asl_send(obj, msg); is similar to asl_log(), except the value for ASL_KEY_MSG is taken from msg rather than being constructed using a printf() style syntax.

asl_open(ident, facility, opts); creates and returns a client handle, or NULL if an error occurs in the library. Messages sent using this handle will default to having the string ident as the value associated with the ASL_KEY_SENDER key, and the value facility associated with the ASL_KEY_FACILITY key. If ident is NULL, the library uses the sending process name. If facility is NULL, the library will use the “user” facility for processes with non-zero UID, and “daemon” for processes with zero UID.

Several options are available, as described in the CLIENT HANDLES section.

Each client handle holds state information that is used when a message is logged using that handle. This information includes the ident and facility strings and the options from the opts parameter. Client handles also contain various filter, file descriptor, and control data.

The state information in a client handle is not protected by locking or thread synchronization mechanisms, except for one special case where NULL is used as a client handle. That special case is described below.

It is not safe for two or more threads to use a single client handle simultaneously. Multi-threaded applications should generally create one client handle for each thread or serial dispatch queue that logs messages. A client handle may only be safely shared amongst multiple threads if the application uses locks or some synchronization strategy to ensure single-threaded access.

As a special case, the ASL library allows the use of NULL in place of a client handle. In this case, the library uses an internal structure which contains its own lock. Multiple threads may safely use NULL in place of an ASL client handle, although there may be contention for the lock.

Applications that use libdispatch may use NULL in place of a client handle, although this may cause undesirable synchronization behavior and degraded performance because of lock contention. A better design is often to use one or more serial dispatch queues specifically for logging. Each such serial queue should use a separate client handle.

asl_open_path(path, opts); opens an ASL data store or ASL data file for read or write access. Returns an object of type ASL_TYPE_STORE or ASL_TYPE_FILE, depending on the input parameters. By default, the ASL store or file is opened for reading. The routine checks the filesystem type of path, and returns an object of type ASL_TYPE_STORE for an ASL data store (a directory in the filesystem) or an object of type ASL_TYPE_FILE for an ASL data file. If path is NULL, the system's ASL database (/var/log/asl) is opened.

If the ASL_OPT_OPEN_WRITE option is specified, an existing file or database is opened for writing. New messages may be added to the file or database using asl_log(), asl_vlog(), asl_send(), or asl_append(). Existing messages in the store or file may not be deleted or modified.

If the path does not exist in the filesystem, asl_open_path() will create a new data store if ASL_OPT_CREATE_STORE is set in the options, The file will be created with the user's effective UID and GID as owner and group. The mode will be 0644. If a different mode, UID, or GID is desired, an empty file or directory may be pre-created with the desired settings.

asl_close(asl); closes the client handle asl and releases its associated resources. asl_release() may also be used to close a client handle.

asl_set_filter(asl, f); sets a filter for messages being sent to the server. The filter is a bitmask representing priority levels. Only messages having a priority level with a corresponding bit set in the filter mask are sent to the syslogd server. The filter does not control writes to additional files associated with the client handle using asl_add_output_file(). asl_set_filter() returns the previous filter value.

asl_add_output_file(asl, descriptor, msg_fmt, time_fmt, filter, text_encoding); adds the file descriptor descriptor to the a set of file descriptors associated with the client handle asl. Each log message sent by that client handle is also written to these file descriptors (depending on the setting of the filter argument). The message format is specified by the msg_fmt argument. The format for timestamps is specified by the time_fmt argument, although custom format strings may specify more advanced formats for timestamps. Details on custom format strings are below.

Each output file has an associated filter value. The filter determines which messages are formatted and written to the file based on the message priority level.

Special handling for certain characters is specified by the text_encoding argument. The supported values and their effect are described below.

The msg_format argument is a character string that tells the library how to format each message written to the output file. There are several pre-defined message formats, described below. Custom formats are also supported, giving complete control over which ASL message keys should be written and the overall format of each output line. The pre-defined formats are identified by constants in the asl.h header file.

ASL_MSG_FMT_RAW

The contents of the ASL message dictionaries are formatted as a list, with each key-value pair formatted as “[Key Value]”.

ASL_MSG_FMT_STD

Messages are formatted using the standard ASL message format of the form

Time Host Sender[PID] <Level>: Message

Time formats are described below.

ASL_MSG_FMT_BSD

The legacy format used for plain-text log files. Similar to the ASL_MSG_FMT_STD format, but the message priority level is excluded.

ASL_MSG_FMT_MSG

The output line contains only the value of the Message key in each ASL message dictionary.

ASL_MSG_FMT_XML

Produces multiple lines of output for each ASL message. The message is formatted as an XML dictionary:

<dict>

<key>ASLMessageKey1</key>

<string>Key 1 Value</string>

<key>ASLMessageKey2</key>

<string>Key 2 Value</string>

...

</dict>

A NULL value for msg_fmt causes the library to use the ASL_MSG_FMT_STD format.

Custom format strings may contain a mix of characters that are directly copied to the output line and variables, which are a dollar sign ‘$’ followed by specific ASL message dictionary keys, whose values will be interpolated into the output. For example, the format string:

would result in lines in the output file like, e.g.:

Normally, a space character terminates a variable name. However, the name may be wrapped in parentheses if a space character is not desired in the output. For example:

A third form for specifying variables may be used for the ASL “Level” and “Time” message keys. Note that a “Time” specification using one of the forms below will override the time_fmt argument to the function.

The following forms are recognized:

$((Level)(str))

Formats a Level value as a string, for example “Error”, “Alert”, “Warning”, and so on. Note that $(Level) or $Level formats the value as an integer 0 through 7.

$((Level)(char))

Formats a Level value as a single character from the set “PACEWNID”, for levels 0 through 7. These are abbreviations for Panic, Alert, Critical, Error, Warning, Notice, Info, and Debug.

$((Time)(sec))

Formats a Time value as the number of seconds since the Epoch.

$((Time)(raw))

Alias for $((Time)(sec)).

$((Time)(local))

Formats a Time value as a string of the form “Mmm dd hh:mm:ss”, where Mmm is the abbreviation for the month, dd is the date (1 - 31) and hh:mm:ss is the time. The local timezone is used.

$((Time)(lcl))

Alias for $((Time)(local)).

$((Time)(utc))

Formats a Time value as a string of the form “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ssZ”, using Coordinated Universal Time, or the “Zulu” time zone.

$((Time)(zulu))

Alias for $((Time)(utc)).

$((Time)(X))

Where X may be any letter in the range A - Z or a - z. Formats the Time using the format “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ssX”, using the specified nautical timezone. Z is the same as UTC/Zulu time. Timezones A - M (except J) decrease by one hour to the east of the Zulu time zone. Timezones N - Y increase by one hour to the west of Z. M and Y have the same clock time, but differ by one day. J is used to indicate the local timezone. When printing using $((Time)(J)), the output format is “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss”, without a trailing timezone letter.

$((Time)(JZ))

Specifies the local timezone. The timezone offset from UTC follows the date and time. The time is formatted as “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss[+|-]HH[:MM]”. Minutes in the timezone offset are only printed if they are non-zero.

$((Time)(ISO8601))

Specifies the local timezone, formatted as specified by ISO 8601. The timezone offset from UTC follows the date and time. The time is formatted as “yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss[+|-]HH[:MM]”. Minutes in the timezone offset are only printed if they are non-zero. Note that this differs from “JZ” format only in that a “T” character separates the date and time.

$((Time)([+|-]HH[:MM]))

Specifies an offset (+ or -) of the indicated number of hours (HH) and optionally minutes (MM) to UTC. The value is formatted as a string of the form “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss[+|-]HH[:MM]”. Minutes in the timezone offset are only printed if they are non-zero.

Unless a custom message format uses one of the specialized forms for “Time” described above, then any timestamps in an output message will be formatted according the the time_fmt argument. The known formats are identified by constants in the asl.h header file.

ASL_TIME_FMT_SEC

Formats timestamps as the number of seconds since the Epoch.

ASL_TIME_FMT_UTC

Formats a Time value as a string of the form “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ssZ”, using Coordinated Universal Time, or the “Zulu” time zone.

ASL_TIME_FMT_LCL

Formats a Time value as a string of the form “Mmm dd hh:mm:ss”, where Mmm is the abbreviation for the month, dd is the date (1 - 31) and hh:mm:ss is the time. The local timezone is used.

A value of NULL for the time_fmt argument will cause the default format ASL_TIME_FMT_LCL to be used.

The encoding parameter specifies how certain characters are to be treated when preparing a message for output. The known encodings are:

ASL_ENCODE_NONE

No special character encode is done.

ASL_ENCODE_ASL

Newlines and tabs are also encoded as "\n" and "\t" respectively. In “ASL_MSG_FMT_RAW” format, space characters embedded in log message keys are encoded as "\s" and embedded brackets are escaped to print as "\[" and "\]".

ASL_ENCODE_SAFE

Encodes backspace characters as ^H. Carriage returns are mapped to newlines. A tab character is appended after newlines so that message text is indented.

ASL_ENCODE_XML

This encoding should be used when formatting messages using ASL_MSG_FMT_XML. XML format output requires that keys are valid UTF8 strings. Keys which are not valid UTF8 are ignored, and the associated value is not printed.

Values that contain legal UTF8 are printed as strings. Ampersand, less than, greater than, quotation mark, and apostrophe characters are encoded according to XML conventions. Embedded control characters are encoded as “&#xNN;” where NN is the character's hexadecimal value.

Values that do not contain legal UTF8 are encoded in base-64 and printed as data objects.

asl_add_output_file() Returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure.

asl_add_log_file(asl, descriptor); Is equivalent to

Returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure.

asl_set_output_file_filter(asl, descriptor, filter); replaces the current filter value associated with a file descriptor that has been added to a client handle. Returns the previous filter value.

asl_remove_log_file(asl, descriptor); removes a file descriptor from the set of file descriptors associated with a client handle. Returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure.

asl_format(msg, msg_fmt, time_fmt, text_encoding); formats the msg object using the message format string, time format string, and text encoding specified. Message formatting is described above for the asl_add_output_file() routine. The caller must free the returned character string.

asl_new(type); allocates and returns an asl_object_t structure, or NULL in the case of a failure in the library. The type argument should be ASL_TYPE_MSG, ASL_TYPE_QUERY, or ASL_TYPE_LIST.

asl_get_type(obj); Returns the type of the object obj, or ASL_TYPE_UNDEF if the object is not a recognized type.

asl_retain(obj); Increments an internal reference count for obj. ASL objects are created with a reference count of 1. Objects returned by ASL routines should be retained if they are used outside of the immediate scope of the call that returned them.

asl_release(obj); Decrements the internal reference count for obj. It frees the object and its associated resources when the reference count becomes zero.

DEPRECATED asl_free(obj); This interface is deprecated in favor of asl_release(). It is implemented as a call to asl_release().

asl_set(msg, key, value); creates a new key and value in an asl_object_t structure, or replaces the value of an existing key. Returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure.

asl_set_query(msg, key, op, value); is used to construct searches. It is similar to asl_set(), except that it takes an additional op (operation) argument. Creates a new (key, op, value) triple in an asl_object_t structure, or replaces the value and operation for an existing key. See the SEARCHING section for more information. Returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure.

asl_unset(msg, key); removes a key and its associated value from an asl_object_t structure. Returns 0 on success, non-zero on failure.

asl_key(msg, n); returns the nth key in an asl_object_t (beginning at zero), allowing an application to iterate through the keys. Returns NULL if n indexes beyond the number of keys in msg.

asl_get(msg, key); returns the value associated with key in the asl_object_t msg. Returns NULL if msg does not contain key.

asl_fetch_key_val_op(msg, n, key, val, op); Returns, in the key, val, and op output parameters, the key, value, and operation (for ASL_TYPE_QUERY) at index n in the given object msg. The input msg should be of type ASL_TYPE_MSG or ASL_TYPE_QUERY. Returns 0 on success, or non-zero otherwise. Any of the output parameters may be NULL, in which case that parameter value will not be returned.

asl_count(obj); returns a count of the number of elements contained in obj. For objects of type ASL_TYPE_MSG or ASL_TYPE_QUERY, this is the number of dictionary keys. For ASL_TYPE_LIST, it is the number of items in the list. For ASL_TYPE_FILE, returns the number of messages contained in the file. Returns zero for ASL_TYPE_STORE and ASL_TYPE_CLIENT.

asl_append(obj, msg); appends the msg object, which is typically of type ASL_TYPE_MSG or ASL_TYPE_QUERY, to the target obj. The target obj is typically a type that contains a collection of messages, i.e. ASL_TYPE_LIST, ASL_TYPE_FILE, ASL_TYPE_STORE, or ASL_TYPE_CLIENT (where the collection is the system ASL database). asl_append() appends the msg object to the end of the target obj.

If msg is of type ASL_TYPE_LIST and obj is of type ASL_TYPE_LIST, ASL_TYPE_FILE, ASL_TYPE_STORE, or ASL_TYPE_CLIENT, the each message in the msg list is appended in sequence to the the target obj.

If both msg and obj are of type ASL_TYPE_MSG or ASL_TYPE_QUERY, then the message dictionary from msg is merged with obj. Existing keys in obj are preserved. For keys that are in msg that are not in obj, the key and its value and operation are added to obj.

asl_prepend(obj, msg); is similar to asl_append(), except that the msg object is prepended to the target obj. In the case where both parameters are of type ASL_TYPE_MSG or ASL_TYPE_QUERY, all keys from msg are copied to obj. Existing keys are not preserved.

asl_next(obj); returns the next item in the target obj, which may be of type ASL_TYPE_LIST, ASL_TYPE_FILE, ASL_TYPE_STORE, or of type ASL_TYPE_CLIENT in which case the routine fetches messages consecutively from the system ASL database. Returned objects are of type ASL_TYPE_MSG, or of type ASL_TYPE_QUERY if the target object is a list containing query objects. Returns NULL when there are no more objects to return from the target.

asl_prev(obj); is similar to asl_next(), except that it returns objects in reverse order. Objects that contain messages have an internal index for the “current” item. asl_next() and asl_prev() simply return the current item and move the index forward or backward. The index position can be set using asl_reset_iteration().

asl_reset_iteration(obj, position); sets the current position index used be asl_next() and asl_prev(). The value of position may be zero to set the position index for obj at the beginning of its contents, or it may be SIZE_MAX to set the position index for obj at the end of its contents. For objects of type ASL_TYPE_LIST, the position index is an actual index into the list. For other message containing objects, the index is an ID number which may not be sequential.

asl_get_index(list, index); returns the object at position index in the target list object, which must be of type ASL_TYPE_LIST. Returns NULL if the index is out of range or if list is not a list type.

asl_remove_index(list, index); removes the object at position index from the target list object, which must be of type ASL_TYPE_LIST.

asl_log_descriptor(asl, msg, level, descriptor, fd_type); provides functionality to use file descriptors to send logging data to ASL. asl is retained by ASL and must still be closed by the caller by calling asl_close() if the caller loses reference to it. msg is copied by ASL and similarly must still be releaser by the caller by calling asl_release() if the caller loses reference to it. Any changes made to it after calling asl_log_descriptor()() are not applicable to the message used. descriptor is treated differently based on the value of fd_type.

If fd_type is ASL_LOG_DESCRIPTOR_READ, the descriptor must be open for read access. ASL uses dispatch(2) to read from the descriptor as data becomes available. These data are line buffered and passed to asl_log(). When EOF is read, ASL will close(2) descriptor ..

If fd_type is ASL_LOG_DESCRIPTOR_WRITE, the descriptor is closed and a new writable descriptor is created with the same fileno. Any data written to this new descriptor are line buffered and passed to asl_log(). When EOF is sent, no further data are read. The caller is responsible for closing the new descriptor. One common use for this API is to redirect writes to stdout or stderr to ASL by passing STDOUT_FILENO or STDERR_FILENO as descriptor.

asl_search(obj, query); searches messages in the obj object for messages that match the keys and values in query, subject to matching operations associated with those keys and values. The return returns an object of type ASL_TYPE_LIST containing matching messages, or NULL if no matches are found. The query argument should be constructed using asl_set_query(). See the SEARCHING section for details on constructing queries.

The obj parameter may be any ASL object. For type ASL_TYPE_CLIENT, the main ASL system database is searched. If the object type is ASL_TYPE_STORE or ASL_TYPE_FILE, then the corresponding data store or data file is searched. For ASL_TYPE_LIST, matches are found in a message list. If obj is of type ASL_TYPE_MSG and query is of type ASL_TYPE_QUERY, obj is matched against the query, and a list containing obj is returned if the match succeeds. If both obj and query are objects of type ASL_TYPE_MSG or both are of type ASL_TYPE_QUERY, they are tested for exact match. A list containing obj is returned if the match is exact. If obj is of type ASL_TYPE_QUERY and query is of type ASL_TYPE_MSG, the routine returns NULL.

asl_match(obj, querylist, last, start, count, duration, direction); is similar to asl_search(), but allows more advanced searching of ASL objects. The obj parameter may be of any type, as with asl_search(). The querylist parameter must be an object of type ASL_TYPE_LIST, containing zero or more objects of type ASL_TYPE_QUERY. A NULL querylist or a list containing zero objects matches all messages in the target obj.

The caller may provide a starting ASL message ID, a direction, and a count. A start ID value of 0 means that matching should commence at the beginning of the target obj. A value of SIZE_MAX indicates that matching should commence at the end (most recent message) in the target. If a non-zero count value is supplied, the routine will return when it has found that many messages, or it has checked all messages. If a non-zero duration is supplied, the routine will return after the specified time (in microseconds). If both count and duration are non-zero, the routine will return when the desired number of items has been matched or when the specified duration has been exceeded, whichever occurs first. The search direction may be ASL_MATCH_DIRECTION_FORWARD or ASL_MATCH_DIRECTION_REVERSE. The routine sets the value of the out parameter last to be an index of the last message checked while matching. To fetch matching messages in batches (using a small count or duration value), the start value for each iteration should be set to last + 1 if searching forward, or last - 1 for reverse search.

DEPRECATED aslresponse_next(r); This interface is deprecated in favor of asl_next(). It is implemented as a call to asl_next().

DEPRECATED aslresponse_free(r); This interface is deprecated in favor of asl_release(). It is implemented as a call to asl_release().

asl_create_auxiliary_file(msg, title, uti, out_descriptor); Creates an auxiliary file that may be used by the client to save arbitrary data. When the file is closed using asl_close_auxiliary_file();, syslogd will log the specified msg along with the title and the Uniform Type Identifier provided by uti. If a NULL value is supplied for uti the type “public.data” will be used. The Console application will display the message with a link to the file.

Auxiliary files are saved in the ASL data store. They are automatically deleted at the same time that the log message expires. Messages expire in 7 days by default. A value set for the ASLExpireTime key will override the default. Read access for the auxiliary file will be the same as read access for msg. By default, messages (and auxiliary files) are world-readable. Access may be limited by setting values for the ReadUID and ReadGID keys.

asl_close_auxiliary_file(descriptor); closes the file descriptor descriptor previously returned by a call to asl_create_auxiliary_file().

asl_log_auxiliary_location(msg, title, uti, url); will log the specified msg along with the title, the Uniform Type Identifier provided by uti, and the Uniform Resource Locator provided by url. The Console application will display the message with a link to the file. This allows a client to save data in an auxiliary file, but unlike asl_create_auxiliary_file(), the life-cycle of this file must be managed by some external system. The file will not be removed when the corresponding log message expired from the ASL data store.

asl_open_from_file(descriptor, facility, opts); creates a client handle for an open file descriptor descriptor. This routine may be used in conjunction with asl_create_auxiliary_file() or asl_log_auxiliary_location() to save ASL format log messages in an auxiliary file. The UTI type “com.apple.asl-file” should be used for ASL format auxiliary files.

Files with this format may be read from the command line using syslog -f file, or from the Console utility.

The file must be open for read and write access. The file will be truncated and its existing contents will be lost. asl_close(); must be called to close the client handle when logging to this file is complete. The file should be closed using asl_close_auxiliary_file(); if it was returned by asl_create_auxiliary_file();, or close(); otherwise.

The client handle returned by asl_open_from_file() contains an internal lock, and may be used safely by multiple threads or from independent dispatch queues. Note that callers will contend for the internal lock when saving log messages to a file.

Note that messages with ReadUID or ReadGID values will simply be saved to the file, and will not effect read access to either the message or the file itself. Similarly, messages with ASLExpireTime values will be saved, but will not effect the life-cycle of either the individual messages or the file.

asl_encode_buffer(in, len); is a utility routine for encoding arbitrary data buffers. ASL message dictionary keys and values are nul-terminated C strings. If an application wishes to include arbitrary data which may contain zero bytes, the data buffer must first be encoded in a manner that eliminates any embedded zeros. The asl_encode_buffer() routine will encode an arbitrary data buffer at the address in containing len bytes (octets) of data. The output of the routine is a nul-terminated C string. The encoded string may be decoded using the companion asl_decode_buffer() routine.

This utility is used by the ASL server syslogd to encode the value associated with ASL_KEY_AUX_DATA in an ASL_TYPE_MSG object. An ASL_KEY_AUX_DATA key/value pair is used to hold the data written to a file descriptor created by asl_create_auxiliary_file() on iOS systems, where the ASL database is stored in memory.

asl_decode_buffer(in, buf, len); decodes a C string previously created by asl_encode_buffer() back into a buffer, possibly containing embedded zero bytes (octets). The routine allocates memory for the buffer and returns a pointer in an output buf parameter. The caller is responsible for freeing the buffer.

This routine should be used to decode the value associated with an ASL_KEY_AUX_DATA key in an ASL_TYPE_MSG object.

MESSAGES

At the core of this API is the asl_object_t structure. Although the structure is opaque and may not be directly manipulated, it contains a list of key/value pairs. All keys and values are NUL-character terminated C language strings. UTF-8 encoding may be used for non-ASCII characters.

Message structures are generally used to send log messages, and are created thusly:

asl_object_t m = asl_new(ASL_TYPE_MSG);

Another message type, ASL_TYPE_QUERY, is used to create queries when searching the data store. Query type messages and searching are described in detail in the SEARCHING section. For the remainder of this section, the messages described will be of the ASL_TYPE_MSG variety.

Each asl_object_t contains a default set of keys and values that are associated with them. These keys are listed in the asl.h header file. They are:

#define ASL_KEY_TIME "Time"
#define ASL_KEY_HOST "Host"
#define ASL_KEY_SENDER "Sender"
#define ASL_KEY_FACILITY "Facility"
#define ASL_KEY_PID "PID"
#define ASL_KEY_UID "UID"
#define ASL_KEY_GID "GID"
#define ASL_KEY_LEVEL "Level"
#define ASL_KEY_MSG "Message"

Many of these correspond to equivalent parts of messages described in the syslog(3) API. Values associated with these message keys are assigned appropriate defaults. The value for ASL_KEY_HOST is the local host name, the value associated with ASL_KEY_SENDER is the process name, the ASL_KEY_PID is the client's process ID number, and so on.

Note the addition of the UID and GID keys. The values for UID and GID are set in library code by the message sender. The server will attempt to confirm the values, but no claim is made that these values cannot be maliciously overridden in an attempt to deceive a log message reader as to the identity of the sender of a message. The contents of log messages must be regarded as insecure.

The asl(3) API does not require a process to choose a facility name. The syslogd server will use a default value of “user” if a facility is not set. However, a client may set a facility name as an argument in the asl_open() call, or by setting a specific value for the ASL_KEY_FACILITY in a message:

asl_set(m, ASL_KEY_FACILITY, "com.somename.greatservice");

An application may choose any facility name at will. Different facility names may be attached to different messages, perhaps to distinguish different subsystems in log messages. Developers are encouraged to adopt a “Reverse ICANN” naming convention to avoid conflicting facility names.

Default values are set in the message for each of the keys listed above, except for ASL_KEY_MSG, which may be explicitly set at any time using the asl_set() routine, or implicitly set at the time the message is sent using the asl_log_message(), asl_log(), or asl_vlog() routines. These three routines also have an integer-level parameter for specifying the log priority. The ASL_KEY_LEVEL value is set accordingly. Finally, the value associated with ASL_KEY_TIME is set in the sending routine.

When logging from multiple threads, each thread should open a separate client handle using asl_open(). The client handle may then be closed when it is no longer required using asl_release(). Multiple threads may log messages safely using a NULL asl_object_t argument, but the library will use an internal lock, so that in fact only one thread will log at a time.

When an application requires additional keys and values to be associated with each log message, a single message structure may be allocated and set up as “template” message of sorts:

asl_object_t m = asl_new(ASL_TYPE_MSG);
asl_set(m, ASL_KEY_FACILITY, "com.secrets.r.us");
asl_set(m, "Clearance", "Top Secret");
...
asl_log(NULL, m, ASL_LEVEL_NOTICE, "Message One");
...
asl_log(NULL, m, ASL_LEVEL_ERR, "Message Two");

The message structure will carry the values set for the “Facility” and “Clearance” keys so that they are used in each call to asl_log(), while the log level and the message text are taken from the calling parameters.

The format argument to asl_log() and asl_vlog() is identical to printf(3), and may include ‘%m’, which is replaced by the current error message (as denoted by the global variable errno; see strerror(3).)

Key/value pairs may be removed from a message structure with asl_unset(). A message may be freed using asl_release().

The asl_send() routine is used by asl_log() and asl_vlog() to transmit a message to the server. This routine sets the value associated with ASL_KEY_TIME and sends the message. It may be called directly if all of a message's key/value pairs have been created using asl_set().

SECURITY

Messages that are sent to the syslogd server may be saved in a message store. The store may be searched using asl_search(), as described below. By default, all messages are readable by any user. However, some applications may wish to restrict read access for some messages. To accommodate this, a client may set a value for the "ReadUID" and "ReadGID" keys. These keys may be associated with a value containing an ASCII representation of a numeric UID or GID. Only the root user (UID 0), the user with the given UID, or a member of the group with the given GID may fetch access-controlled messages from the database.

Although the ASL system does not require a "Facility" key in a message, many processes specify a "Facility" value similar to the common usage of the BSD syslog API, although developers are encouraged to adopt facility names that make sense for their application. A “Reverse ICANN” naming convention (e.g. "com.apple.system.syslog") should be adopted to avoid conflicting names. The ASL system generally allows any string to be used as a facility value, with one exception. The value "com.apple.system", or any string that has "com.apple.system" as a prefix, may only be used by processes running with the UID 0. This allows system processes to log messages that can not be "spoofed" by user processes. Non-UID 0 client processes that specify "com.apple.system" as a facility, will be assigned the value "user" by the syslogd server.

CLIENT HANDLES

A client handle contains various parameters and control settings that are used when a message is logged. This includes an identification string, a facility name, filtering controls, additional file descriptors, and other data. Client handles are not thread-safe. Applications that log from multiple threads should create a client handle for each thread.

Applications that use libdispatch must also avoid using a single client handle from multiple dispatch queues if those queues may run concurrently. A good approach is to create one or more serial dispatch queues specifically for logging. Each such queue should use its own ASL client handle.

If a single handle must be accessed by multiple dispatch queues, then the application must use locks, semaphores, or some other mechanism to prevent concurrent access to a client handle.

A NULL value may be used in any of the routines that require an asl_object_t argument. In this case, the library will use an internal client handle. This internal handle contains its own lock, allowing multiple threads to safely use the NULL client handle. Note, however, that contention for the lock may cause undesirable synchronization behavior or reduced performance.

The asl_open() routine may be given an ident argument, which becomes the default value for the ASL_KEY_SENDER key, and a facility argument, which becomes the value associated with the ASL_KEY_FACILITY key. If NULL is passed as the value for ident, the name of the currently running program will be used. If NULL is passed as the value for facility, the value “user” will be used for non UID 0 processes, and “” daemon will be used for UID 0 processes.

Several options are available when creating a client handle. They are:

ASL_OPT_STDERR

adds stderr as an output file descriptor

ASL_OPT_NO_DELAY

connects to the server immediately

ASL_OPT_NO_REMOTE

disables remote-control filter adjustment

See the FILTERING section below, and the syslog(1) for additional details on filter controls.

A client handle is closed and its resources released using asl_close(). Note that if additional file descriptors were added to the handle, either using the ASL_OPT_STDERR option or afterwards with the asl_add_log_file() routine, those file descriptors are not closed by asl_close().

LOGGING TO ADDITIONAL FILES

If a client handle is opened with the ASL_OPT_STDERR option to asl_open(), a copy of each log message will be sent to stderr. Additional output streams may be include using asl_add_log_file().

Messages sent to stderr or other files are printed in the "standard" message format also used as a default format by the syslog(1) command line utility. Non-ASCII characters in a message are encoded using the “safe” encoding style used by syslog(1) with the -E safe option. Backspace characters are printed as ^H. Carriage returns are mapped to newlines. A tab character is appended after newlines so that message text is indented.

File descriptors may be removed from the list of outputs associated with a client handle with asl_remove_log_file(). This routine simply removes the file descriptor from the output list. The file is not closed as a result.

The ASL_OPT_STDERR option may not be unset after a client handle has been opened.

SEARCHING

The syslogd server archives received messages in a data store that may be searched using the asl_search(), asl_next(), and asl_release() routines. A query message is created using:

asl_object_t q = asl_new(ASL_TYPE_QUERY);

Search settings are made in the query using asl_set_query(). A search is performed on the data store with asl_search(). It returns an object of type ASL_TYPE_LIST. The caller may use routines that operate on lists, such as asl_next(), asl_prev(), and asl_get_index() to access the matching messages.

Like other messages, ASL_TYPE_QUERY messages contain keys and values. They also associate an operation with each key and value. The operation is used to decide if a message matches the query. The simplest operation is ASL_QUERY_OP_EQUAL, which tests for equality. For example, the following code snippet searches for messages with a Sender value equal to “MyApp”.

asl_object_t q, r;
q = asl_new(ASL_TYPE_QUERY);
asl_set_query(q, ASL_KEY_SENDER, "MyApp", ASL_QUERY_OP_EQUAL);
r = asl_search(NULL, q);

More complex searches may be performed using other query operations.

ASL_QUERY_OP_EQUAL

value equality

ASL_QUERY_OP_GREATER

value greater than

ASL_QUERY_OP_GREATER_EQUAL

value greater than or equal to

ASL_QUERY_OP_LESS

value less than

ASL_QUERY_OP_LESS_EQUAL

value less than or equal to

ASL_QUERY_OP_NOT_EQUAL

value not equal

ASL_QUERY_OP_REGEX

regular expression search

ASL_QUERY_OP_TRUE

always true - use to test for the existence of a key

Regular expression search uses regex(3) library. Patterns are compiled using the REG_EXTENDED and REG_NOSUB options.

Modifiers that change the behavior of these operations may also be specified by ORing the modifier value with the operation. The modifiers are:

ASL_QUERY_OP_CASEFOLD

string comparisons are case-folded

ASL_QUERY_OP_PREFIX

match a leading substring

ASL_QUERY_OP_SUFFIX

match a trailing substring

ASL_QUERY_OP_SUBSTRING

match any substring

ASL_QUERY_OP_NUMERIC

values are converted to integer using atoi

The only modifier that is checked for ASL_QUERY_OP_REGEX search is ASL_QUERY_OP_CASEFOLD. This causes the regular expression to be compiled with the REG_ICASE option.

If a query message contains more than one set of key/value/operation triples, the result will be a logical AND. For example, to find messages from “MyApp” with a priority level less than or equal to “3”:

asl_object_t q, r;
q = asl_new(ASL_TYPE_QUERY);
asl_set_query(q, ASL_KEY_SENDER, "MyApp", ASL_QUERY_OP_EQUAL);
asl_set_query(q, ASL_KEY_LEVEL, "3",
ASL_QUERY_OP_LESS_EQUAL | ASL_QUERY_OP_NUMERIC);
r = asl_search(NULL, q);

After calling asl_search() to get a list of matching messages, one can use asl_next() to iterate through the list, and asl_fetch_key_val_op() To iterate through the message dictionary.

asl_object_t q, r;

...
r = asl_search(NULL, q);
while (NULL != (m = asl_next(r)))
{
int i, n;
n = asl_count(m);
for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
{ const char *key, *val;
asl_fetch_key_val_op(m, i, key, val, NULL);
...
}
}
asl_release(r);

FILTERING AND REMOTE CONTROL

Clients may set a filter mask value with asl_set_filter(). The mask specifies which messages should be sent to the syslogd daemon by specifying a yes/no setting for each priority level. Clients typically set a filter mask to avoid sending relatively unimportant messages. For example, Debug or Info priority level messages are generally only useful for debugging operations. By setting a filter mask, a process can improve performance by avoiding sending messages that are in most cases unnecessary.

asl_set_filter(returns, the, previous, value, of, the, filter,, i.e., the, value, of, the, filter, before, the, routine, was, called.)

As a convenience, the macros ASL_FILTER_MASK(level) and ASL_FILTER_MASK_UPTO(level) may be used to construct a bit mask corresponding to a given priority level, or corresponding to a bit mask for all priority levels from ASL_LEVEL_EMERG to a given input level.

The default filter mask is ASL_FILTER_MASK_UPTO(ASL_LEVEL_NOTICE). This means that by default, and in the absence of remote-control changes (described below), ASL_LEVEL_DEBUG and ASL_LEVEL_INFO priority level messages are not sent to the syslogd server.

Three different filters exist for each application. The first is the filter mask set using asl_set_filter() as described above. The Apple System Log facility also manages a “master” filter mask. The master filter mask usually has a value that indicates to the library that it is “off”, and thus it has no effect. However, the mask filter mask may be enabled by giving it a value using the syslog command, using the -c 0 option. When the master filter mask has been set, it takes precedence over the client's filter mask. The client's mask is unmodified, and will become active again if remote-control filtering is disabled.

In addition to the master filter mask, The Apple System Log facility also manages a per-client remote-control filter mask. Like the master filter mask, the per-client mask is usually “off”, having no effect on a client. If a per-client filter mask is set using the syslog command, using the -c process option, then it takes precedence over both the client's filter mask and the master filter mask. As is the case with the master filter mask, a per-client mask ceases having any effect when if is disabled.

The ASL_OPT_NO_REMOTE option to asl_open() causes both the master and per-client remote-control masks to be ignored in the library. In that case, only the client's own filter mask is used to determine which messages are sent to the server. This may be useful for Applications that produce log messages that should never be filtered, due to security considerations. Note that root (administrator) access is required to set or change the master filter mask, and that only root may change a per-client remote-control filter mask for a root (UID 0) process.

The per-process remote control filter value is kept as a state value associated with a key managed by notifyd. The key is protected by an access control mechanism that only permits the filter value to be accessed and modified by the same effective UID as the ASL client at the time that the first ASL connection was created. Remote filter control using syslog -c will fail for processes that change effective UID after starting an ASL connection. Those processes should close all ASL client handles and then re-open ASL connections if remote filter control support is desired.