On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 01:27:23PM -0700, Adam Williamson wrote:
FWIW, FHS states[1]:
"The following files, or symbolic links to files, must be in /var/log, if the corresponding subsystem is installed:
File Description lastlog record of last login of each user messages system messages from syslogd"
There is clearly some ambiguity there; I'm not sure FHS writers considered the possibility of something that is clearly meant to fulfill the role of a system logging daemon but which does not want to write /var/log/messages .
The intent here is "if such a file exists, it belongs in this directory", not "this file must exist". This pattern repeats throughout the FHS.
See for example the similar requirements for /bin: http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_2.3/fhs-2.3.html#SPECIFICOPTIONS2 csh is listed, but this isn't meant to mandate that C shell must be installed. So I think we're compliant with both the letter and the spirit of this standard.