General :: Syslogd Doesn't Check Max Size?

I was going to back up some files to a DVD so I loaded a new blank in the drive and waited for it to come ready. I decided that now was a good time to fill up my drink and left the computer for a while. When I got back about 30 minutes later, I noticed that the drive was still cycling and had not become ready. I finally got the process killed and tried another blank, which worked. Then I went on about my business.

The next day, the machine hung up on boot with Dmesg saying that it was starting the syslog daemon, but that was as far as it would go till it dropped to the maintenance shell after a few minutes. Multiple boots always did the same thing.

After considerable troubleshooting, I noticed that the syslog file was at the maximum size - about 2.5 gig I think - and was full of DVD drive errors. Deleting the file fixed the problem.

Just to test, I built a phony syslog file to the maximum size and installed it in /var/log. Bang - same problem.

So... It appears that the system logger doesn't test for max size overflow either during runtime or during boot. Interestingly, I googled up one hit for the same problem from a couple of years ago, also on Debian, but nothing in the debian.org problem lists.