$ sudo mkfifo /var/log/blackhole.pipe #### $ cat /etc/syslog.conf ... # test logger script local1.* |/var/log/blackhole.pipe #### $ logger -p local1.info "test test" $ logger -p local1.info "test test" $ logger -p local1.info "test test" $ logger -p local1.info "test test2" #### $ cat /var/log/blackhole.pipe Oct 3 11:16:09 localhost plankton: test test Oct 3 11:16:15 localhost last message repeated 2 times Oct 3 11:16:19 localhost plankton: test test2 #### $ cat process_blackhole.pl #!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; $|=1; my $fifo_file = "/var/log/blackhole.pipe"; my $fifo_fh; open($fifo_fh, "+< $fifo_file") or die "The FIFO file \"$fifo_file\" is missing, and this program can't run without it.:$!"; # just keep reading from the fifo and processing the events we read while (<$fifo_fh>) { chomp; print "read from pipe [$_]\n"; } # should never really come down here ... close $fifo_fh; exit(0); #### $ sudo ./process_blackhole.pl read from pipe [Oct 3 11:22:45 localhost plankton: test test] read from pipe [Oct 3 11:22:52 localhost plankton: test test2]