Rust System Log (Unix & Like-Unix)#

In this blog post, we’ll explore a simple Rust program that demonstrates how to log a message to the system log on a Linux-based system using the syslog crate.

Prerequisites#

Before running this program, ensure you have the following installed on your system:

Rust toolchain (including Cargo)
Systemd or another syslog daemon (such as rsyslog or syslog-ng)

Building the Program#

Clone or download this repository to your local machine.
Navigate to the project directory in your terminal.
Terminal window
```
1
cd sysunixlog
```
Build the program using Cargo:
Terminal window
```
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cargo build --release
```

Running the Program#

After successfully building the program, execute it using:

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cargo run --release

or run the binary directly:

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./target/release/sysunixlog

Checking the System Log#

For systemd users:#

Use the journalctl command to view logs managed by systemd. To filter logs from your program, you can use:

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journalctl | grep myprogram

Replace “myprogram” with the name specified in your Rust code.

For traditional syslog users:#

Use the tail command to view the syslog file. For example:

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sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog | grep myprogram

Replace “myprogram” with the name specified in your Rust code.

Troubleshooting#

Ensure that the syslog service is running on your system.
Check permissions if you encounter issues with logging to the system log.
If you encounter any issues, feel free to open an issue in this repository for assistance.

Now, let’s take a look at the Rust code:

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extern crate syslog;
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use syslog::{Facility, Formatter3164};
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fn main() {
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    // Initialize the logger
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    let formatter = Formatter3164 {
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        facility: Facility::LOG_USER,
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        hostname: None,
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        process: "sysunixlog".into(),
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        pid: 0,
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    };
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    match syslog::unix(formatter) {
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        Err(e) => println!("impossible to connect to syslog: {}", e),
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        Ok(mut writer) => {
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            // Log the message
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            writer.err("Genesis of Generic Germination U0001F49A, Anubhav!").expect("could not write error message");
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        }
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    }
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}

And there you have it! With just a few simple steps, you can log messages to the system log in Rust. Happy logging! 🚀