rsyslog

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 The old legacy processor (and with it the early RainerScript implementation) is thrown out and has been replaced by the so-called RainerScript processor (why that crazy name?).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”