This isn't really a bug but we can probably make the manual less confusing. Does this help?
- todd Index: lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 =================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/src/lib/libc/gen/syslog.3,v retrieving revision 1.33 diff -u -p -u -r1.33 syslog.3 --- lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 30 Mar 2016 06:58:06 -0000 1.33 +++ lib/libc/gen/syslog.3 29 Aug 2017 16:48:17 -0000 @@ -173,9 +173,7 @@ The .Fa level (ORed with the .Fa facility ) -is selected from the following -.Em ordered -(high to low) list: +is selected from the following list, ordered by decreasing importance: .Bl -tag -width LOG_AUTHPRIV .It Dv LOG_EMERG A panic condition. @@ -300,7 +298,9 @@ the mask for all priorities up to and in .Fa toppri is given by the macro .Fn LOG_UPTO toppri . -The default allows all priorities to be logged. +The default allows all priorities to be logged which +corresponds to +.Li setlogmask(LOG_UPTO(LOG_DEBUG)) . .Pp The .Fn setlogmask_r
