OStatic

By Mike Thomas on Jul. 07, 2008

Linux logs are contained in the /var/log directory. There are several log files that are maintained by the system, but other services and programs may put their log files here too. Most logs are only readable by root, but that can be changed by simply changing the access rights to the file.

/var/log/messages

The messages log is the core system log file. It contains the boot messages when the system came up as well as other status messages as the system runs. Errors with IO, networking, and other general system errors are reported in this file. Other information, such as when someone becomes root, is listed here as well. If services are running, such as DHCP servers, you can watch the action in the messages file. /var/log/messages is generally your first place to look when you are troubleshooting.

/var/log/XFree86.0.log

This log shows the results of the last execution of the Xfree86 Xwindows server. If you are having problems getting the graphical mode to come up, this file will usually provide answers as to what is failing.

Other logs

There will be other log files in the /var/log directory depending on your distribution of Linux and the services and applications that you are running. For example, there may be logs associated with running a mail server, resource sharing, automatic tasks, and others.

HTH!