diff --git a/database.inc b/database.inc
index e3a81ed..3cb8772 100644
--- a/database.inc
+++ b/database.inc
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ define('ORACLE_MAX_VARCHAR2_LENGTH',4000); // maximum length for a string value
 define('ORACLE_MIN_PDO_BIND_LENGTH',665); // maximum length of a string that PDO_OCI can handle (affects runtime blob creation) @FIXME this should be 4000 once PDO_OCI is fixed
 define('ORACLE_ROWNUM_ALIAS','RWN_TO_REMOVE'); // alias used for queryRange filtering (we have to remove that from resultsets)
 
-openlog("oracle", LOG_PID | LOG_PERROR, LOG_USER);
+// openlog("oracle", LOG_PID | LOG_PERROR, LOG_USER);
 
 /**
  * @ingroup database
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ class DatabaseConnection_oracle extends DatabaseConnection
   	  }
   	  catch (Exception $e)
   	  {
-  	  	 syslog(LOG_ERR,"error: ".$e->getMessage()." ".$query);
+  	  	 // syslog(LOG_ERR,"error: ".$e->getMessage()." ".$query);
+  	  	 watchdog('oracle_driver',"error: ".$e->getMessage()." ".$query, NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
   	  	 throw $e;
   	  }
 
@@ -147,14 +148,16 @@ class DatabaseConnection_oracle extends DatabaseConnection
 
     try {
       if ($query instanceof PDOStatement) {
-      	if ($oracle_debug) syslog(LOG_ERR,"query: ".$query->queryString." args: ".print_r($args,true));
-        $stmt = $query;
+      	// if ($oracle_debug) syslog(LOG_ERR,"query: ".$query->queryString." args: ".print_r($args,true));
+      	if ($oracle_debug) watchdog('oracle_driver',"query: ".$query->queryString." args: ".print_r($args,true), NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
+      	$stmt = $query;
         $stmt->execute(NULL);
       }
       else {
       	$modified = $this->expandArguments($query, $args);
         $stmt = $this->prepareQuery($query);
-        if ($oracle_debug) syslog(LOG_ERR,"query: ".$stmt->getQueryString()." args: ".print_r($args,true));
+        // if ($oracle_debug) syslog(LOG_ERR,"query: ".$stmt->getQueryString()." args: ".print_r($args,true));
+        if ($oracle_debug) watchdog('oracle_driver',"query: ".$stmt->getQueryString()." args: ".print_r($args,true), NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
         $stmt->execute($this->cleanupArgs($args), $options);
       }
       
@@ -189,11 +192,13 @@ class DatabaseConnection_oracle extends DatabaseConnection
           return $this->query($query_string, $args, $options, 2);
       }
 
-      try { $this->rollBack(); } catch (Exception $rex) { syslog(LOG_ERR,"rollback ex: ".$rex->getMessage()); }
+      // try { $this->rollBack(); } catch (Exception $rex) { syslog(LOG_ERR,"rollback ex: ".$rex->getMessage()); }
+      try { $this->rollBack(); } catch (Exception $rex) { watchdog('oracle_driver',"rollback ex: ".$rex->getMessage(), NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR); }
       
       if ($options['throw_exception'])
       {
-        syslog(LOG_ERR,"error query: ". $query_string .(isset($stmt)&&$stmt instanceof DatabaseStatement_oracle ? " (prepared: ".$stmt->getQueryString()." )" : "")." e: ".$e->getMessage()." args: ".print_r($args,true));//." db: ".print_r(debug_backtrace(false),true));
+        // syslog(LOG_ERR,"error query: ". $query_string .(isset($stmt)&&$stmt instanceof DatabaseStatement_oracle ? " (prepared: ".$stmt->getQueryString()." )" : "")." e: ".$e->getMessage()." args: ".print_r($args,true));//." db: ".print_r(debug_backtrace(false),true));
+        watchdog('oracle_driver',"error query: ". $query_string .(isset($stmt)&&$stmt instanceof DatabaseStatement_oracle ? " (prepared: ".$stmt->getQueryString()." )" : "")." e: ".$e->getMessage()." args: ".print_r($args,true)." db: ".print_r(debug_backtrace(false),true), NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
         
         $ex= new PDOException($query_string .(isset($stmt)&&$stmt instanceof DatabaseStatement_oracle ? " (prepared: ".$stmt->getQueryString()." )" : "")." e: ".$e->getMessage()." args: ".print_r($args,true));
         $ex->errorInfo= $e->errorInfo;
@@ -263,7 +268,8 @@ class DatabaseConnection_oracle extends DatabaseConnection
   	  return $this->oracleQuery($this->prefixTables("select ".$name.".currval from dual",true))->fetchColumn();
   	}
   	catch (Exception $ex)
-  	{ syslog(LOG_ERR," currval: ".print_r(debug_backtrace(false),true)); /* ignore if CURRVAL not set (may be an insert that specified the serial field) */  }
+  	// { syslog(LOG_ERR," currval: ".print_r(debug_backtrace(false),true)); /* ignore if CURRVAL not set (may be an insert that specified the serial field) */  }
+  	{ watchdog('oracle_driver'," currval: ".print_r(debug_backtrace(false),true), NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR); /* ignore if CURRVAL not set (may be an insert that specified the serial field) */  }
   }
   
   public function queryRange($query, $from, $count, array $args = array(), array $options = array()) {
diff --git a/install.inc b/install.inc
index 4bb7e41..88735b6 100644
--- a/install.inc
+++ b/install.inc
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ class DatabaseTasks_oracle extends DatabaseTasks {
   	
     try 
     {
-      syslog(LOG_ERR,"current dir: ".getcwd()); 	
+      // syslog(LOG_ERR,"current dir: ".getcwd()); 	
+      watchdog('oracle_driver',"current dir: ".getcwd(), NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR); 	
       $this->determine_supported_bind_size();
 	  $this->create_failsafe_objects("includes/database/oracle/resources/table");
 	  $this->create_failsafe_objects("includes/database/oracle/resources/index");
@@ -49,7 +50,8 @@ class DatabaseTasks_oracle extends DatabaseTasks {
     }
     catch (Exception $e)
     {
-      syslog(LOG_ERR,$e->getMessage());
+      // syslog(LOG_ERR,$e->getMessage());
+      watchdog('oracle_driver',$e->getMessage(), NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
       $this->fail(st('Drupal could not be correctly setup with the existing database. Revise any errors.'));
     }
   	
@@ -64,10 +66,12 @@ class DatabaseTasks_oracle extends DatabaseTasks {
         foreach ($this->ORACLE_MAX_PDO_BIND_LENGTH_LIMITS as $length)
 	        try
 	        {
-	          syslog(LOG_ERR,"trying to bind $length bytes...");
-              $determined_size= $length;
+	          // syslog(LOG_ERR,"trying to bind $length bytes...");
+	          watchdog('oracle_driver',"trying to bind $length bytes...", NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
+	          $determined_size= $length;
 	          $this->oracle_query('insert into bind_test values (?)',array(str_pad('a',$length,'a')));
-	          syslog(LOG_ERR,"bind succeeded.");
+	          // syslog(LOG_ERR,"bind succeeded.");
+	          watchdog('oracle_driver',"bind succeeded.", NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
 	          $ok= true;
 	          break;
 	        }
@@ -128,7 +132,8 @@ class DatabaseTasks_oracle extends DatabaseTasks {
   
   private function create_object($file_path)
   {
-         syslog(LOG_ERR,"creating object: $file_path");
+         // syslog(LOG_ERR,"creating object: $file_path");
+         watchdog('oracle_driver',"creating object: $file_path", NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
          
          try
          {
@@ -136,7 +141,8 @@ class DatabaseTasks_oracle extends DatabaseTasks {
          }
          catch (Exception $ex)
          {
-             syslog(LOG_ERR,"object $file_path created with errors");         
+             // syslog(LOG_ERR,"object $file_path created with errors");         
+             watchdog('oracle_driver',"object $file_path created with errors", NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);         
          }
   }
 
@@ -148,7 +154,8 @@ class DatabaseTasks_oracle extends DatabaseTasks {
 	    {
 	         if (in_array($name,array('.','..','.DS_Store','CVS'))) continue;
 	         
-	         syslog(LOG_ERR,"creating object: $dir_path/$name");
+	         // syslog(LOG_ERR,"creating object: $dir_path/$name");
+	         watchdog('oracle_driver',"creating object: $dir_path/$name", NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
 	         $this->failsafe_ddl($this->get_php_contents($dir_path."/".$name));
 	    }
   }
@@ -169,8 +176,9 @@ class DatabaseTasks_oracle extends DatabaseTasks {
 	       return $contents;
 	    }
 	    else
-	       syslog(LOG_ERR,"error: file ".$filename." does not exists");
-	
+	       // syslog(LOG_ERR,"error: file ".$filename." does not exists");
+	       watchdog('orcale_driver',"error: file ".$filename." does not exists", NULL, WATCHDOG_ERROR);
+	    
 	    return false;
   }