The format of an error log message is:
<seq> <time> <ticks> <flags> <mid> <sid> <text>
Messages that appear in the error log are intended to report exceptional conditions that require the attention of the system administrator. Those messages which indicate the total failure of a STREAMS driver or module should have the ``F'' flag set. Those messages requiring the immediate attention of the administrator will have the ``N'' flag set, which causes the error logger to send the message to the system administrator via mail. The priority level usually has no meaning in the error log but will have meaning if the message is also sent to a tracer process.
Once initiated, strerr continues to execute until terminated by the user. It is commonly executed asynchronously.
If a module or driver is generating a large number of error messages, running the error logger will cause a degradation in STREAMS performance. If a large burst of messages are generated in a short time, the log driver may not be able to deliver some of the messages. This situation is indicated by gaps in the sequence numbering of the messages in the log files.