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In rsyslog 6.3.3, the config processor has finally changed. The old legacy processor (and with it the early RainerScript implementation) is thrown out and has been replaced by the so-called RainerScript processor (why that crazy name?). This is an extremely important step for rsyslog, as it now has the foundation for a much better and intuitive rsyslog.conf format. However, most of that can not be seen in 6.3.3, as it requires more work, especially in the plugin arena. Still, there are a couple of smaller improvements available.

Most importantly, the performance of script based filters has been considerably enhanced. Preliminary testing shows a three times speedup (we’ll do more benchmarking at a later stage; there is also still lots of room for optimization ;-)).

The ugliness of continuation lines has been removed. They may still be used, and this may make a lot of sense with some actions, but you are usually no longer forced to use continuation lines. Take this config snippet from a leading distro:

if ( \
     /* kernel up to warning except of firewall  */ \
     ($syslogfacility-text == 'kern')      and      \
     ($syslogseverity <= 4 /* warning */ ) and not  \
     ($msg contains 'IN=' and $msg contains 'OUT=') \
 ) or ( \
     /* up to errors except of facility authpriv */ \
     ($syslogseverity <= 3 /* errors  */ ) and not  \
     ($syslogfacility-text == 'authpriv')           \
 ) \
then /dev/tty10
& |/dev/xconsole

This can now be written as follows:

if (
     /* kernel up to warning except of firewall  */
     ($syslogfacility-text == 'kern')      and
     ($syslogseverity <= 4 /* warning */ ) and not
     ($msg contains 'IN=' and $msg contains 'OUT=')
 ) or (
     /* up to errors except of facility authpriv */
     ($syslogseverity <= 3 /* errors  */ ) and not
     ($syslogfacility-text == 'authpriv')
 )
then /dev/tty10

& |/dev/xconsole

Continue reading “rsyslog 6.3.3 config format improvements”