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         *.info;mail.none;authpriv.none;cron.none;local5.none;    /var/log/messages
         local5.*;         /var/log/spamassassin

This is the same kind of configuration with syslog-ng which mostly part of the modern systems, separate mail logs from other:

destination mail { file("/var/log/mail"); };
destination messages { file("/var/log/messages"); };

filter f_mail { facility(mail, news) and not match (imapd); };
filter f_messages { level(info..warn) and not facility(mail, news); };

log { source(src); filter(f_mail); destination(mail); };
log { source(src); filter(f_messages); destination(messages); };

Once you understand how to use syslog properly, you won't have problems like this. After all... syslog IS a pervasive element of unix.You can't avoid it forever. It's better to learn how to use it, rather than trying to figure out how to go around it all the time on a per-program basis.