diff --git a/app/test/test_eal_flags.c b/app/test/test_eal_flags.c
index 6cb4b06757..bea5465168 100644
--- a/app/test/test_eal_flags.c
+++ b/app/test/test_eal_flags.c
@@ -984,17 +984,10 @@ test_misc_flags(void)
 	const char *argv1[] = {prgname, prefix, mp_flag, "--no-pci"};
 	/* With -v */
 	const char *argv2[] = {prgname, prefix, mp_flag, "-v"};
-	/* With valid --syslog */
-	const char *argv3[] = {prgname, prefix, mp_flag,
-			"--syslog", "syslog"};
-	/* With empty --syslog (should fail) */
-	const char *argv4[] = {prgname, prefix, mp_flag, "--syslog"};
-	/* With invalid --syslog */
-	const char *argv5[] = {prgname, prefix, mp_flag, "--syslog", "error"};
+
 	/* With no-sh-conf, also use no-huge to ensure this test runs on BSD */
 	const char *argv6[] = {prgname, "-m", DEFAULT_MEM_SIZE,
 			no_shconf, nosh_prefix, no_huge};
-
 	/* With --huge-dir */
 	const char *argv7[] = {prgname, "-m", DEFAULT_MEM_SIZE,
 			"--file-prefix=hugedir", "--huge-dir", hugepath};
@@ -1079,18 +1072,6 @@ test_misc_flags(void)
 	return 0;
 #endif
 
-	if (launch_proc(argv3) != 0) {
-		printf("Error - process did not run ok with --syslog flag\n");
-		goto fail;
-	}
-	if (launch_proc(argv4) == 0) {
-		printf("Error - process run ok with empty --syslog flag\n");
-		goto fail;
-	}
-	if (launch_proc(argv5) == 0) {
-		printf("Error - process run ok with invalid --syslog flag\n");
-		goto fail;
-	}
 	if (launch_proc(argv7) != 0) {
 		printf("Error - process did not run ok with --huge-dir flag\n");
 		goto fail;
diff --git a/doc/guides/linux_gsg/linux_eal_parameters.rst b/doc/guides/linux_gsg/linux_eal_parameters.rst
index ea8f381391..d86f94d8a8 100644
--- a/doc/guides/linux_gsg/linux_eal_parameters.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/linux_gsg/linux_eal_parameters.rst
@@ -108,30 +108,3 @@ Memory-related options
 *   ``--match-allocations``
 
     Free hugepages back to system exactly as they were originally allocated.
-
-Other options
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-*   ``--syslog <syslog facility>``
-
-    Set syslog facility. Valid syslog facilities are::
-
-        auth
-        cron
-        daemon
-        ftp
-        kern
-        lpr
-        mail
-        news
-        syslog
-        user
-        uucp
-        local0
-        local1
-        local2
-        local3
-        local4
-        local5
-        local6
-        local7
diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst b/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
index 9559c12a98..9a73628907 100644
--- a/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
@@ -855,9 +855,8 @@ Signal Safety
   Other functions are not signal safe because they use one or more
   library routines that are not themselves signal safe.
   For example, calling ``rte_panic()`` is not safe in a signal handler
-  because it uses ``rte_log()`` and ``rte_log()`` calls the
-  ``syslog()`` library function which is in the list of
-  signal safe functions in
+  because it uses ``rte_log()`` and ``rte_log()`` calls library functions
+  that are not all signal safe.
   `Signal-Safety manual page <https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/signal-safety.7.html>`_.
 
   The set of functions that are expected to be async-signal-safe in DPDK
diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/log_lib.rst b/doc/guides/prog_guide/log_lib.rst
index ff9d1b54a2..17ed8426b2 100644
--- a/doc/guides/prog_guide/log_lib.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/log_lib.rst
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ Log Library
 ===========
 
 The DPDK Log library provides the logging functionality for other DPDK libraries and drivers.
-By default, in a Linux application, logs are sent to syslog and also to the console.
-On FreeBSD and Windows applications, logs are sent only to the console.
+By default, log messages are sent to the stderr.
 However, the log function can be overridden by the user to use a different logging mechanism.
 
 Log Levels
diff --git a/lib/eal/common/eal_common_options.c b/lib/eal/common/eal_common_options.c
index 5435399b85..73167d4603 100644
--- a/lib/eal/common/eal_common_options.c
+++ b/lib/eal/common/eal_common_options.c
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <pthread.h>
-#ifndef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
-#include <syslog.h>
-#endif
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <limits.h>
 #include <errno.h>
@@ -93,7 +90,6 @@ eal_long_options[] = {
 	{OPT_PROC_TYPE,         1, NULL, OPT_PROC_TYPE_NUM        },
 	{OPT_SOCKET_MEM,        1, NULL, OPT_SOCKET_MEM_NUM       },
 	{OPT_SOCKET_LIMIT,      1, NULL, OPT_SOCKET_LIMIT_NUM     },
-	{OPT_SYSLOG,            1, NULL, OPT_SYSLOG_NUM           },
 	{OPT_VDEV,              1, NULL, OPT_VDEV_NUM             },
 	{OPT_VFIO_INTR,         1, NULL, OPT_VFIO_INTR_NUM        },
 	{OPT_VFIO_VF_TOKEN,     1, NULL, OPT_VFIO_VF_TOKEN_NUM    },
@@ -349,10 +345,6 @@ eal_reset_internal_config(struct internal_config *internal_cfg)
 	}
 	internal_cfg->base_virtaddr = 0;
 
-#ifdef LOG_DAEMON
-	internal_cfg->syslog_facility = LOG_DAEMON;
-#endif
-
 	/* if set to NONE, interrupt mode is determined automatically */
 	internal_cfg->vfio_intr_mode = RTE_INTR_MODE_NONE;
 	memset(internal_cfg->vfio_vf_token, 0,
@@ -1297,47 +1289,6 @@ eal_parse_lcores(const char *lcores)
 	return ret;
 }
 
-#ifndef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
-static int
-eal_parse_syslog(const char *facility, struct internal_config *conf)
-{
-	int i;
-	static const struct {
-		const char *name;
-		int value;
-	} map[] = {
-		{ "auth", LOG_AUTH },
-		{ "cron", LOG_CRON },
-		{ "daemon", LOG_DAEMON },
-		{ "ftp", LOG_FTP },
-		{ "kern", LOG_KERN },
-		{ "lpr", LOG_LPR },
-		{ "mail", LOG_MAIL },
-		{ "news", LOG_NEWS },
-		{ "syslog", LOG_SYSLOG },
-		{ "user", LOG_USER },
-		{ "uucp", LOG_UUCP },
-		{ "local0", LOG_LOCAL0 },
-		{ "local1", LOG_LOCAL1 },
-		{ "local2", LOG_LOCAL2 },
-		{ "local3", LOG_LOCAL3 },
-		{ "local4", LOG_LOCAL4 },
-		{ "local5", LOG_LOCAL5 },
-		{ "local6", LOG_LOCAL6 },
-		{ "local7", LOG_LOCAL7 },
-		{ NULL, 0 }
-	};
-
-	for (i = 0; map[i].name; i++) {
-		if (!strcmp(facility, map[i].name)) {
-			conf->syslog_facility = map[i].value;
-			return 0;
-		}
-	}
-	return -1;
-}
-#endif
-
 static void
 eal_log_usage(void)
 {
@@ -1880,16 +1831,6 @@ eal_parse_common_option(int opt, const char *optarg,
 		}
 		break;
 
-#ifndef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
-	case OPT_SYSLOG_NUM:
-		if (eal_parse_syslog(optarg, conf) < 0) {
-			EAL_LOG(ERR, "invalid parameters for --"
-					OPT_SYSLOG);
-			return -1;
-		}
-		break;
-#endif
-
 	case OPT_LOG_LEVEL_NUM: {
 		if (eal_parse_log_level(optarg) < 0) {
 			EAL_LOG(ERR,
@@ -2259,9 +2200,6 @@ eal_common_usage(void)
 	       "                      (can be used multiple times)\n"
 	       "  --"OPT_VMWARE_TSC_MAP"    Use VMware TSC map instead of native RDTSC\n"
 	       "  --"OPT_PROC_TYPE"         Type of this process (primary|secondary|auto)\n"
-#ifndef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
-	       "  --"OPT_SYSLOG"            Set syslog facility\n"
-#endif
 	       "  --"OPT_LOG_LEVEL"=<level> Set global log level\n"
 	       "  --"OPT_LOG_LEVEL"=<type-match>:<level>\n"
 	       "                      Set specific log level\n"
diff --git a/lib/eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h b/lib/eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h
index 167ec501fa..ed56a58b8b 100644
--- a/lib/eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h
+++ b/lib/eal/common/eal_internal_cfg.h
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ struct internal_config {
 	/**< true if storing all pages within single files (per-page-size,
 	 * per-node) non-legacy mode only.
 	 */
-	volatile int syslog_facility;	  /**< facility passed to openlog() */
+
 	/** default interrupt mode for VFIO */
 	volatile enum rte_intr_mode vfio_intr_mode;
 	/** the shared VF token for VFIO-PCI bound PF and VFs devices */
diff --git a/lib/eal/common/eal_options.h b/lib/eal/common/eal_options.h
index f3f2e104f6..6b204d6698 100644
--- a/lib/eal/common/eal_options.h
+++ b/lib/eal/common/eal_options.h
@@ -63,8 +63,6 @@ enum {
 	OPT_SOCKET_MEM_NUM,
 #define OPT_SOCKET_LIMIT        "socket-limit"
 	OPT_SOCKET_LIMIT_NUM,
-#define OPT_SYSLOG            "syslog"
-	OPT_SYSLOG_NUM,
 #define OPT_VDEV              "vdev"
 	OPT_VDEV_NUM,
 #define OPT_VFIO_INTR         "vfio-intr"
diff --git a/lib/eal/freebsd/eal.c b/lib/eal/freebsd/eal.c
index 17b56f38aa..d8628ba632 100644
--- a/lib/eal/freebsd/eal.c
+++ b/lib/eal/freebsd/eal.c
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <pthread.h>
-#include <syslog.h>
 #include <getopt.h>
 #include <sys/file.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
@@ -563,12 +562,14 @@ rte_eal_init(int argc, char **argv)
 
 	eal_reset_internal_config(internal_conf);
 
-	/* clone argv to report out later in telemetry */
-	eal_save_args(argc, argv);
-
 	/* set log level as early as possible */
 	eal_log_level_parse(argc, argv);
 
+	eal_log_init(getprogname());
+
+	/* clone argv to report out later in telemetry */
+	eal_save_args(argc, argv);
+
 	if (rte_eal_cpu_init() < 0) {
 		rte_eal_init_alert("Cannot detect lcores.");
 		rte_errno = ENOTSUP;
diff --git a/lib/eal/linux/eal.c b/lib/eal/linux/eal.c
index 23dc26b124..913ee62fc6 100644
--- a/lib/eal/linux/eal.c
+++ b/lib/eal/linux/eal.c
@@ -955,6 +955,8 @@ rte_eal_init(int argc, char **argv)
 	/* set log level as early as possible */
 	eal_log_level_parse(argc, argv);
 
+	eal_log_init(program_invocation_short_name);
+
 	/* clone argv to report out later in telemetry */
 	eal_save_args(argc, argv);
 
@@ -1106,14 +1108,6 @@ rte_eal_init(int argc, char **argv)
 #endif
 	}
 
-	if (eal_log_init(program_invocation_short_name,
-			 internal_conf->syslog_facility) < 0) {
-		rte_eal_init_alert("Cannot init logging.");
-		rte_errno = ENOMEM;
-		rte_atomic_store_explicit(&run_once, 0, rte_memory_order_relaxed);
-		return -1;
-	}
-
 #ifdef VFIO_PRESENT
 	if (rte_eal_vfio_setup() < 0) {
 		rte_eal_init_alert("Cannot init VFIO");
diff --git a/lib/eal/unix/eal_debug.c b/lib/eal/unix/eal_debug.c
index 69ba3758c2..c830cf7f05 100644
--- a/lib/eal/unix/eal_debug.c
+++ b/lib/eal/unix/eal_debug.c
@@ -43,8 +43,7 @@ static char *safe_itoa(long val, char *buf, size_t len, unsigned int radix)
  * used in this code since may be called from inside libc or
  * when malloc poll is corrupt.
  *
- * Most of libc is therefore not safe, include RTE_LOG (calls syslog);
- * backtrace_symbols (calls malloc), etc.
+ * Most of libc is therefore not safe including backtrace_symbols (calls malloc), etc.
  */
 void rte_dump_stack(void)
 {
diff --git a/lib/eal/windows/eal.c b/lib/eal/windows/eal.c
index 85171b2768..10f7cb840a 100644
--- a/lib/eal/windows/eal.c
+++ b/lib/eal/windows/eal.c
@@ -250,10 +250,10 @@ rte_eal_init(int argc, char **argv)
 	char cpuset[RTE_CPU_AFFINITY_STR_LEN];
 	char thread_name[RTE_THREAD_NAME_SIZE];
 
-	eal_log_init(NULL, 0);
-
 	eal_log_level_parse(argc, argv);
 
+	eal_log_init(NULL);
+
 	if (eal_create_cpu_map() < 0) {
 		rte_eal_init_alert("Cannot discover CPU and NUMA.");
 		/* rte_errno is set */
diff --git a/lib/log/log.c b/lib/log/log.c
index 255f757d94..4c8666ac93 100644
--- a/lib/log/log.c
+++ b/lib/log/log.c
@@ -55,9 +55,6 @@ TAILQ_HEAD(rte_eal_opt_loglevel_list, rte_eal_opt_loglevel);
 static struct rte_eal_opt_loglevel_list opt_loglevel_list =
 	TAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(opt_loglevel_list);
 
-/* Stream to use for logging if rte_logs.file is NULL */
-static FILE *default_log_stream;
-
 /**
  * This global structure stores some information about the message
  * that is currently being processed by one lcore
@@ -76,6 +73,9 @@ static RTE_DEFINE_PER_LCORE(struct log_cur_msg, log_cur_msg);
 int
 rte_openlog_stream(FILE *f)
 {
+	if (rte_logs.file != NULL)
+		fclose(rte_logs.file);
+
 	rte_logs.file = f;
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -85,17 +85,7 @@ rte_log_get_stream(void)
 {
 	FILE *f = rte_logs.file;
 
-	if (f == NULL) {
-		/*
-		 * Grab the current value of stderr here, rather than
-		 * just initializing default_log_stream to stderr. This
-		 * ensures that we will always use the current value
-		 * of stderr, even if the application closes and
-		 * reopens it.
-		 */
-		return default_log_stream != NULL ? default_log_stream : stderr;
-	}
-	return f;
+	return (f == NULL) ? stderr : f;
 }
 
 /* Set global log level */
@@ -506,27 +496,25 @@ rte_log(uint32_t level, uint32_t logtype, const char *format, ...)
 }
 
 /*
- * Called by environment-specific initialization functions.
+ * Called by eal_cleanup
  */
 void
-eal_log_set_default(FILE *default_log)
+rte_eal_log_cleanup(void)
 {
-	default_log_stream = default_log;
+	FILE *f = rte_logs.file;
 
-#if RTE_LOG_DP_LEVEL >= RTE_LOG_DEBUG
-	RTE_LOG(NOTICE, EAL,
-		"Debug dataplane logs available - lower performance\n");
-#endif
+	if (f != NULL) {
+		fclose(f);
+		rte_logs.file = NULL;
+	}
 }
 
-/*
- * Called by eal_cleanup
- */
+/* initialize logging */
 void
-rte_eal_log_cleanup(void)
+eal_log_init(const char *id __rte_unused)
 {
-	if (default_log_stream) {
-		fclose(default_log_stream);
-		default_log_stream = NULL;
-	}
+#if RTE_LOG_DP_LEVEL >= RTE_LOG_DEBUG
+	RTE_LOG(NOTICE, EAL,
+		"Debug dataplane logs available - lower performance\n");
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/lib/log/log_freebsd.c b/lib/log/log_freebsd.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 698d3c5423..0000000000
--- a/lib/log/log_freebsd.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
- * Copyright(c) 2023 Intel Corporation
- */
-
-#include <rte_common.h>
-#include "log_internal.h"
-
-int
-eal_log_init(__rte_unused const char *id, __rte_unused int facility)
-{
-	return 0;
-}
diff --git a/lib/log/log_internal.h b/lib/log/log_internal.h
index 451629f1c1..4f1ffe999e 100644
--- a/lib/log/log_internal.h
+++ b/lib/log/log_internal.h
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  * Initialize the default log stream.
  */
 __rte_internal
-int eal_log_init(const char *id, int facility);
+void eal_log_init(const char *id);
 
 /*
  * Determine where log data is written when no call to rte_openlog_stream.
diff --git a/lib/log/log_linux.c b/lib/log/log_linux.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 2dfb0c974b..0000000000
--- a/lib/log/log_linux.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,61 +0,0 @@
-/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
- * Copyright(c) 2010-2014 Intel Corporation
- */
-
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <sys/types.h>
-#include <syslog.h>
-
-#include <rte_log.h>
-
-#include "log_internal.h"
-
-/*
- * default log function
- */
-static ssize_t
-console_log_write(__rte_unused void *c, const char *buf, size_t size)
-{
-	ssize_t ret;
-
-	/* write on stderr */
-	ret = fwrite(buf, 1, size, stderr);
-	fflush(stderr);
-
-	/* Syslog error levels are from 0 to 7, so subtract 1 to convert */
-	syslog(rte_log_cur_msg_loglevel() - 1, "%.*s", (int)size, buf);
-
-	return ret;
-}
-
-static int
-console_log_close(__rte_unused void *c)
-{
-	closelog();
-	return 0;
-}
-
-static cookie_io_functions_t console_log_func = {
-	.write = console_log_write,
-	.close = console_log_close,
-};
-
-/*
- * set the log to default function, called during eal init process,
- * once memzones are available.
- */
-int
-eal_log_init(const char *id, int facility)
-{
-	FILE *log_stream;
-
-	log_stream = fopencookie(NULL, "w+", console_log_func);
-	if (log_stream == NULL)
-		return -1;
-
-	openlog(id, LOG_NDELAY | LOG_PID, facility);
-
-	eal_log_set_default(log_stream);
-
-	return 0;
-}
diff --git a/lib/log/log_windows.c b/lib/log/log_windows.c
deleted file mode 100644
index a6a0889550..0000000000
--- a/lib/log/log_windows.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
- * Copyright(c) 2017-2018 Intel Corporation
- */
-
-#include <rte_common.h>
-#include <rte_log.h>
-#include "log_internal.h"
-
-/* set the log to default function, called during eal init process. */
-int
-eal_log_init(__rte_unused const char *id, __rte_unused int facility)
-{
-	rte_openlog_stream(stderr);
-
-	eal_log_set_default(stderr);
-
-	return 0;
-}
diff --git a/lib/log/meson.build b/lib/log/meson.build
index 0d4319b36f..891f77a237 100644
--- a/lib/log/meson.build
+++ b/lib/log/meson.build
@@ -2,8 +2,5 @@
 # Copyright(c) 2023 Intel Corporation
 
 includes += global_inc
-sources = files(
-        'log.c',
-        'log_' + exec_env + '.c',
-)
+sources = files('log.c')
 headers = files('rte_log.h')
