diff --git a/manifests/syslog.pp b/manifests/syslog.pp
index e835e26fdf2f5b1b9c074a6fb9ed058e76f3cbc4..a046df01f8cecb884cba8cc7ead27fa2a0535adb 100644
--- a/manifests/syslog.pp
+++ b/manifests/syslog.pp
@@ -25,8 +25,19 @@
 
 class base::syslog {
 
+  # Ubuntu uses a separate account for syslog
+  if ( $::operatingsystem == 'Ubuntu' ) {
+    $syslog_owner = 'syslog'
+    $syslog_group = 'adm'
+  } else {
+    $syslog_owner = 'root'
+    $syslog_group = 'root'
+  }
+
   base::syslog::config::syslog { '/etc/syslog.conf':
     ensure => present,
+    owner  => $syslog_owner,
+    group  => $syslog_group,
   }
 
   # RHEL4/5 are ancient and use syslog, everything modern uses rsyslog
@@ -42,7 +53,11 @@ class base::syslog {
       name      => 'rsyslog',
       hasstatus => true,
     }
-    base::syslog::config::rsyslog { '/etc/rsyslog.conf': ensure => present }
+    base::syslog::config::rsyslog { '/etc/rsyslog.conf':
+      ensure => present,
+      owner  => $syslog_owner,
+      group  => $syslog_group,
+    }
   }
 
   # Create a symlink from /var/log/syslog to /var/log/messages for the