diff --git a/config/fail2ban.conf b/config/fail2ban.conf
index abed5159..89e2538e 100644
--- a/config/fail2ban.conf
+++ b/config/fail2ban.conf
@@ -36,8 +36,9 @@ logtarget = /var/log/fail2ban.log
 
 # Option: syslogsocket
 # Notes: Set the syslog socket file. Only used when logtarget is SYSLOG
-# Values: [ FILE ]  Default: /dev/log
-syslogsocket = /dev/log
+#        auto uses platform.system() to determine predefined paths
+# Values: [ auto | FILE ]  Default: auto
+syslogsocket = auto
 
 # Option: socket
 # Notes.: Set the socket file. This is used to communicate with the daemon. Do
diff --git a/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py b/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py
index 09b39d8d..c2f71d06 100644
--- a/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py
+++ b/fail2ban/client/fail2banreader.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class Fail2banReader(ConfigReader):
 	def getOptions(self):
 		opts = [["string", "loglevel", "INFO" ],
 				["string", "logtarget", "STDERR"],
-				["string", "syslogsocket", "/dev/log"],
+				["string", "syslogsocket", "auto"],
 				["string", "dbfile", "/var/lib/fail2ban/fail2ban.sqlite3"],
 				["int", "dbpurgeage", 86400]]
 		self.__opts = ConfigReader.getOptions(self, "Definition", opts)
diff --git a/fail2ban/protocol.py b/fail2ban/protocol.py
index 3b9cf412..9218b736 100644
--- a/fail2ban/protocol.py
+++ b/fail2ban/protocol.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ protocol = [
 ["get loglevel", "gets the logging level"], 
 ["set logtarget <TARGET>", "sets logging target to <TARGET>. Can be STDOUT, STDERR, SYSLOG or a file"], 
 ["get logtarget", "gets logging target"], 
-["set syslogsocket <SOCKET>", "sets the syslog socket path to <SOCKET>. Only used if logtarget is SYSLOG"],
+["set syslogsocket auto|<SOCKET>", "sets the syslog socket path to auto or <SOCKET>. Only used if logtarget is SYSLOG"],
 ["get syslogsocket", "gets syslog socket path"],
 ["flushlogs", "flushes the logtarget if a file and reopens it. For log rotation."], 
 ['', "DATABASE", ""],
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/server.py b/fail2ban/server/server.py
index f6b30ef0..bb9d28c7 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/server.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/server.py
@@ -56,10 +56,16 @@ class Server:
 		self.__logLevel = None
 		self.__logTarget = None
 		self.__syslogSocket = None
+		self.__autoSyslogSocketPaths = {
+			'Darwin':  '/var/run/syslog',
+			'FreeBSD': '/var/run/log',
+			'Linux': '/dev/log',
+		}
 		# Set logging level
 		self.setLogLevel("INFO")
 		self.setLogTarget("STDOUT")
-		self.setSyslogSocket("/dev/log")
+		self.setSyslogSocket("auto")
+
 
 	def __sigTERMhandler(self, signum, frame):
 		logSys.debug("Caught signal %d. Exiting" % signum)
@@ -362,7 +368,7 @@ class Server:
 			return self.__logLevel
 		finally:
 			self.__loggingLock.release()
-	
+
 	##
 	# Sets the logging target.
 	#
@@ -378,7 +384,12 @@ class Server:
 				# Syslog daemons already add date to the message.
 				formatter = logging.Formatter("%(name)s[%(process)d]: %(levelname)s %(message)s")
 				facility = logging.handlers.SysLogHandler.LOG_DAEMON
-				if os.path.exists(self.__syslogSocket)\
+				if self.__syslogSocket == "auto":
+					import platform
+					self.__syslogSocket = self.__autoSyslogSocketPaths.get(
+						platform.system())
+				if self.__syslogSocket is not None\
+						and os.path.exists(self.__syslogSocket)\
 						and stat.S_ISSOCK(os.stat(
 								self.__syslogSocket).st_mode):
 					hdlr = logging.handlers.SysLogHandler(
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/clientreadertestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/clientreadertestcase.py
index 81c803e7..941116fd 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/clientreadertestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/clientreadertestcase.py
@@ -624,7 +624,7 @@ class JailsReaderTest(LogCaptureTestCase):
 							  ['set', 'dbpurgeage', 86400],
 							  ['set', 'loglevel', "INFO"],
 							  ['set', 'logtarget', '/var/log/fail2ban.log'],
-							  ['set', 'syslogsocket', '/dev/log']])
+							  ['set', 'syslogsocket', 'auto']])
 
 			# and if we force change configurator's fail2ban's baseDir
 			# there should be an error message (test visually ;) --
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py
index 970068d8..2475fa99 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ class TransmitterLogging(TransmitterBase):
 		self.server = Server()
 		self.server.setLogTarget("/dev/null")
 		self.server.setLogLevel("CRITICAL")
-		self.server.setSyslogSocket("/dev/log")
+		self.server.setSyslogSocket("auto")
 		super(TransmitterLogging, self).setUp()
 
 	def testLogTarget(self):
@@ -767,7 +767,9 @@ class TransmitterLogging(TransmitterBase):
 			raise unittest.SkipTest("'/dev/log' not present")
 		elif not os.path.exists("/dev/log"):
 			return
+		self.assertTrue(self.server.getSyslogSocket(), "auto")
 		self.setGetTest("logtarget", "SYSLOG")
+		self.assertTrue(self.server.getSyslogSocket(), "/dev/log")
 
 	def testSyslogSocket(self):
 		self.setGetTest("syslogsocket", "/dev/log/NEW/PATH")