DMESG(8)            UNIX Programmer's Manual             DMESG(8)

NAME
     dmesg - collect system diagnostic messages to form error log

SYNOPSIS
     /etc/dmesg [ - ]

DESCRIPTION
     _D_m_e_s_g looks in a system buffer for recently printed diagnos-
     tic messages and prints them on the standard output.  The
     messages are those printed by the system when device
     (hardware) errors occur and (occasionally) when system
     tables overflow non-fatally.  If the - flag is given, then
     _d_m_e_s_g computes (incrementally) the new messages since the
     last time it was run and places these on the standard out-
     put.  This is typically used with _c_r_o_n(8) to produce the
     error log /_u_s_r/_a_d_m/_m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s by running the command

          /etc/dmesg - >> /usr/adm/messages

     every 10 minutes.

FILES
     /usr/adm/messages   error log (conventional location)
     /usr/adm/msgbuf     scratch file for memory of - option

SEE ALSO
     savecore(8)

BUGS
     The system error message buffer is of small finite size.
     Since _d_m_e_s_g is run only every few minutes, not all error
     messages are guaranteed to be logged.  This can be construed
     as a blessing rather than a curse.

     Error diagnostics generated immediately before a system
     crash are not logged by _d_m_e_s_g (but see _s_a_v_e_c_o_r_e(8)).

Printed 5/17/83                                                 1