---
id: rfc5424-logging-handler
version: "1.4.3"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# rfc5424-logging-handler — An up-to-date, RFC5424-Compliant syslog handler for the Python logging framework

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 87.9K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package extends Python's standard logging framework with a handler that sends log messages to remote syslog servers using the RFC 5424 protocol format. It wraps the low-level syslog details—priority encoding, timestamp formatting, hostname and application name fields, and structured data—so you can log using Python's familiar logging API without writing custom formatters. The handler supports both UDP and TCP transports, optional TLS/SSL encryption, and can also write to streams like files or stderr.

The package depends on tzlocal and pytz for timezone handling. It is marked Production/Stable in its classifiers, but development stopped in 2019 with no active maintenance since then, so it should be considered stable but not actively developed.

Use it for:

- Send application logs to a centralized syslog server for aggregation and monitoring across multiple hosts
- Integrate Python applications with enterprise syslog infrastructure that requires RFC 5424 compliance
- Log structured data (message IDs, key-value pairs) to syslog while maintaining RFC 5424 format compliance
- Encrypt syslog transmission over the network using TLS/SSL instead of plain UDP or TCP
- Write logs to local files or stderr in RFC 5424 format without a remote syslog server

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides a Python logging handler that formats and sends log messages to syslog servers in RFC 5424 compliant format, with support for TLS/SSL and alternate transports.

Yes, if you need RFC 5424 compliant syslog logging and can accept that the package is no longer actively maintained. The low install friction and permissive license make it straightforward to adopt. However, verify compatibility with your target Python version and syslog infrastructure, and be prepared to fork or patch if issues arise. For new projects, consider whether a more actively maintained alternative better suits your risk tolerance.

## Install

pip install rfc5424-logging-handler
uv add rfc5424-logging-handler
poetry add rfc5424-logging-handler

## Installing rfc5424-logging-handler

Before you install: Low install friction with only two lightweight runtime dependencies (tzlocal and pytz). However, the project is abandoned—last release was 2019-05-19 and last commit 2023-05-18—so no active maintenance or security updates should be expected.

License in practice: BSD license is permissive, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions. You may use, modify, and distribute this package freely provided you include the original license notice.

Quickstart:

import logging
from rfc5424logging import Rfc5424SysLogHandler

logger = logging.getLogger('test')
sh = Rfc5424SysLogHandler(address=('10.0.0.1', 514))
logger.addHandler(sh)
logger.info('Message', extra={'msgid': 'unique_id'})

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package works reliably with Python versions released after 2019 (classifiers list only up to 3.7)
- Current compatibility with modern syslog servers and whether the UTF-8 BOM handling remains appropriate
- Whether TLS/SSL transport is production-ready given the lack of recent maintenance

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 87.9K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

rfc5424 syslog logging, python syslog handler, rfc 5424 compliant logging, syslog tls ssl support, structured syslog logging, python logging to syslog, syslog, rfc5424, logging-handler

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