:) Problem is that everything just dumps their output to stdout and
  stderr which are redirected to the log files. This includes lwp/rpc2
  and rvm.

well, a program to read stdin and log stuff shouldn't be too hard.


  And a lot of the logged data is really not that interesting. It probably
  was useful to some developer(s) while they were working on a problem.
  Like, why would I care that the 'SmonDaemon timer' just expired. I don't
  believe many people know what smon (and mond) are, but they used to be
  part of an extensive profiling system where clients and server dumped
  trace data into a centralized sql database. I don't think anyone has
  used that code in the past 4-5 years.

Well, that's what log debug is for, or a control mask to not log stuff
unless set!

But I see the real point, which is that it may be a lot of work to
syslogify this.

        Greg Troxel <gdt_at_ir.bbn.com>