slogencrypt(1)

💖 slogencrypt(1) — the slogencrypt manual page 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about slogencrypt — she's the glow-up artist for your old plain-text logs, and she works with the slogencrypt manual page (that's this one, hi, it's me 🫶). This is section 1 of the manual, and yes we're doing this with full main character energy.

---

✨ NAME ✨

slogencrypt — encrypts existing plain text log files using the {{ site.product.short_name }} secure logging environment. no cap, that's literally the whole job. 💅

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

slogencrypt [options] [arguments]

---

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So the slogencrypt utility encrypts plain text log files using an existing secure logging environment. 🎀

Here's the tea: if you've got log files from a previous installation of syslog-ng OSE — or honestly from some other logging system entirely — this utility is how you move them into a secure logging environment. Bestie, the order of the log entries is preserved. She does not shuffle. She does not chaos. The vibes stay in line. ✨

But listen — encrypting plain text log files using an existing secure logging environment requires the current encryption key to be supplied, so consistency stays consistent. You can't skip that step, she will not let you, it's giving boundary-setting queen. 👑

🌈 EXAMPLE: A GENERAL CALL SEQUENCE 🌈

slogencrypt -k <key file> -m <MAC file> <new key file> <new MAC file> <plain text log> <output file> [counter]

look at her go. iconic. ⭐

---

✨ ARGUMENTS ✨

• <new key file> — the file that contains the new encryption key after a successful encryption. new key, who dis. 🗝️
• <new MAC file> — the file that receives the new message authentication code (MAC) of the secure encrypted destination after encryption. and heads up: if you hand her a file that already exists, the new entries get appended. she adds, she doesn't replace. 💖
• <input log file> — the plain text log file that gets encrypted using the secure logging environment. this is the one going under the glow-up. 🌸
• <output log file> — the file that contains the encrypted log entries from the supplied plain text log file after encryption. this is her after. 💅
• counter — the current log entry counter of the secure encrypted destination after encryption. you need this if the log entries you're encrypting are being appended to an existing secure encrypted destination. yes, required, not optional, don't @ me. 😤

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• --key-file or -k — the current host key from the system where the encryption is performed. the source of truth, fr fr. 🔑
• --mac-file or -m — the current MAC file from the system where the encryption is performed. 🦋
• --help or -h — display a help message. your little rescue text when you're lost. 🙈

---

✨ FILES ✨

/Users/hofi/Develop/Balabit/syslog-ng/build/install/bin/slogencrypt

/Users/hofi/Develop/Balabit/syslog-ng/build/install/etc/syslog-ng.conf

yes those are the actual paths, character for character, I would never. 🎀

---

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• The syslog-ng.conf manual page
• The syslog-ng OSE manual page

go read those too, they're the supporting cast and they ate. 👑

---

lowkey reminder bestie: slogencrypt needs the current encryption key supplied to preserve consistency when you're encrypting plain text logs into an existing secure logging environment. that's not a vibe, that's a requirement. 💜

---

and that's the whole page!! this was slogencrypt(1), from version 4.10.2, dated 18 December 2025 — mwah, thanks for reading, ily, go encrypt something responsibly 🧚💖