out of space on /root

[Bob]

Using Ubuntu 16.10.  The system ran out of space on /root.  I found that
/var/log/syslog was 27gb in size.  I deleted all the syslog.* files and got the
system sort of working and copied /var/log/syslog to my home directory (/home
is on a different partition than /root).  I then deleted the syslog file and
rebooted.  Now things are working OK.  I would like to find out what caused
this problem but can not look at the syslog file as it is too large.  Any ideas
on how to display this file?

-- 
Robert Blair


A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.  -- G. Gordon Liddy