I usually add myself to the adm group. That way, I get access to the file /var/log/messages. You can use either adduser or usermod utilities. The latter can mess thigs up if you don't list your groups carefully -- read the man pages.
Andrew, I used adduser <username> adm and it worked like a charm. My question is why does it work? The folder /var/log is owned by root and has root group. Why does adm have rights to that...how does that all fit together? Bill
