logrotate(inc) - phpMan

LOGROTATE(8)             System Administrator's Manual            LOGROTATE(8)

NAME
       logrotate - rotates, compresses, and mails system logs
SYNOPSIS
       logrotate [-dv] [-f|--force] [-s|--state file] config_file ..
DESCRIPTION
       logrotate  is  designed to ease administration of systems that generate
       large numbers of log files.  It allows automatic rotation, compression,
       removal, and mailing of log files.  Each log file may be handled daily,
       weekly, monthly, or when it grows too large.
       Normally, logrotate is run as a daily cron job.  It will not  modify  a
       log  more  than  once  in  one day unless the criterion for that log is
       based on the log's size and logrotate is being run more than once  each
       day, or unless the -f or --force option is used.
       Any number of config files may be given on the command line. Later con-
       fig files may override the options given in earlier files, so the order
       in which the logrotate config files are listed is important.  Normally,
       a single config file which includes any other config  files  which  are
       needed  should  be  used.  See below for more information on how to use
       the include directive to accomplish this.  If a directory is  given  on
       the  command  line,  every  file  in that directory is used as a config
       file.
       If no command line arguments are given, logrotate  will  print  version
       and  copyright  information,  along with a short usage summary.  If any
       errors occur while rotating logs, logrotate  will  exit  with  non-zero
       status.

OPTIONS
       -?, --help
              Prints help message.

       -d, --debug
              Turns  on  debug mode and implies -v.  In debug mode, no changes
              will be made to the logs or to the logrotate state file.

       -f, --force
              Tells logrotate to force the rotation, even if it doesn't  think
              this  is  necessary.   Sometimes this is useful after adding new
              entries to a logrotate config file, or if  old  log  files  have
              been removed by hand, as the new files will be created, and log-
              ging will continue correctly.

       -m, --mail <command>
              Tells logrotate which command to use  when  mailing  logs.  This
              command  should accept two arguments: 1) the subject of the mes-
              sage, and 2) the recipient. The command must then read a message
              on standard input and mail it to the recipient. The default mail
              command is /bin/mail -s.

       -s, --state <statefile>
              Tells logrotate to use an alternate state file.  This is  useful
              if  logrotate  is being run as a different user for various sets
              of  log  files.   The  default  state  file  is  /var/lib/logro-
              tate/logrotate.status.

       --usage
              Prints a short usage message.

       +-v, --verbose
              Turns on verbose mode, ie. display messages during rotation.

CONFIGURATION FILE
       logrotate  reads  everything  about the log files it should be handling
       from the series of configuration files specified on the  command  line.
       Each configuration file can set global options (local definitions over-
       ride global ones, and later  definitions  override  earlier  ones)  and
       specify  logfiles  to  rotate.  A  simple configuration file looks like
       this:
       # sample logrotate configuration file
       compress
       /var/log/messages {
           rotate 5
           weekly
           postrotate
               /usr/bin/killall -HUP syslogd
           endscript
       }
       "/var/log/httpd/access.log" /var/log/httpd/error.log {
           rotate 5
           mail www AT my.org
           size 100k
           sharedscripts
           postrotate
               /usr/bin/killall -HUP httpd
           endscript
       }
       /var/log/news/* {
           monthly
           rotate 2
           olddir /var/log/news/old
           missingok
           postrotate
               kill -HUP `cat /var/run/inn.pid`
           endscript
           nocompress
       }
       ~/log/*.log {}

       The first few lines set global options; in the example, logs  are  com-
       pressed after they are rotated.  Note that comments may appear anywhere
       in the config file as long as the first non-whitespace character on the
       line is a #.
       The  next section of the config file defines how to handle the log file
       /var/log/messages. The log will go through five weekly rotations before
       being  removed. After the log file has been rotated (but before the old
       version of the log has been compressed), the command /sbin/killall -HUP
       syslogd will be executed.
       The     next     section    defines    the    parameters    for    both
       /var/log/httpd/access.log  and   /var/log/httpd/error.log.    Each   is
       rotated whenever it grows over 100k in size, and the old logs files are
       mailed (uncompressed) to www AT my.org after going  through  5  rotations,
       rather  than being removed. The sharedscripts means that the postrotate
       script will only be run once (after the old logs have been compressed),
       not  once  for each log which is rotated.  Note that log file names may
       be enclosed in quotes (and that quotes are required if  the  name  con-
       tains  spaces).   Normal  shell  quoting  rules apply, with ', ", and \
       characters supported.
       The next section defines  the  parameters  for  all  of  the  files  in
       /var/log/news.  Each  file is rotated on a monthly basis.  This is con-
       sidered a single rotation directive and if errors occur for  more  than
       one file, the log files are not compressed.
       The  last  section uses tilde expansion to rotate log files in the home
       directory of the current user. This is only  available,  if  your  glob
       library supports tilde expansion. GNU glob does support this.
       Please  use  wildcards  with caution.  If you specify *, logrotate will
       rotate all files, including previously rotated ones.  A way around this
       is  to  use  the  olddir  directive  or  a more exact wildcard (such as
       *.log).
       Here is more information on the directives which may be included  in  a
       logrotate configuration file:

       compress
              Old  versions  of  log  files  are  compressed  with  gzip(1) by
              default. See also nocompress.

       compresscmd
              Specifies which command to  use  to  compress  log  files.   The
              default is gzip(1).  See also compress.

       uncompresscmd
              Specifies  which  command  to  use to uncompress log files.  The
              default is gunzip(1).

       compressext
              Specifies which extension to use on compressed logfiles, if com-
              pression is enabled.  The default follows that of the configured
              compression command.

       compressoptions
              Command line options may be passed to the  compression  program,
              if  one  is  in  use.  The default, for gzip(1), is "-6" (biased
              towards high compression at the expense of speed).  If you use a
              different  compression  command, you may need to change the com-
              pressoptions to match.

       copy   Make a copy of the log file, but don't change  the  original  at
              all.   This option can be used, for instance, to make a snapshot
              of the current log file, or when some  other  utility  needs  to
              truncate  or parse the file.  When this option is used, the cre-
              ate option will have no effect, as the old  log  file  stays  in
              place.

       copytruncate
              Truncate  the original log file to zero size in place after cre-
              ating a copy, instead of moving the old log file and  optionally
              creating  a new one.  It can be used when some program cannot be
              told to close  its  logfile  and  thus  might  continue  writing
              (appending)  to  the previous log file forever.  Note that there
              is a very small time slice between copying the file and truncat-
              ing it, so some logging data might be lost.  When this option is
              used, the create option will have no effect, as the old log file
              stays in place.

       create mode owner group, create owner group
              Immediately after rotation (before the postrotate script is run)
              the log file is created (with the same name as the log file just
              rotated).   mode  specifies  the  mode for the log file in octal
              (the same as chmod(2)), owner specifies the user name  who  will
              own  the  log  file,  and group specifies the group the log file
              will belong to. Any of the log file attributes may  be  omitted,
              in  which  case  those  attributes for the new file will use the
              same values as the original log file for the omitted attributes.
              This option can be disabled using the nocreate option.

       createolddir mode owner group
              If  the  directory specified by olddir directive does not exist,
              it is created. mode specifies the mode for the olddir  directory
              in  octal  (the same as chmod(2)), owner specifies the user name
              who will own the olddir directory, and group specifies the group
              the olddir directory will belong to. This option can be disabled
              using the nocreateolddir option.

       daily  Log files are rotated every day.

       dateext
              Archive old versions of log files adding a date  extension  like
              YYYYMMDD instead of simply adding a number. The extension may be
              configured using the dateformat and dateyesterday options.

       dateformat format_string
              Specify the extension for dateext using the notation similar  to
              strftime(3)  function.  Only  %Y  %m %d %H and %s specifiers are
              allowed.  The default value is -%Y%m%d except hourly, which uses
              -%Y%m%d%H  as default value.  Note that also the character sepa-
              rating log name from the extension is  part  of  the  dateformat
              string. The system clock must be set past Sep 9th 2001 for %s to
              work correctly.  Note that the datestamps generated by this for-
              mat  must  be lexically sortable (i.e., first the year, then the
              month then the day. e.g., 2001/12/01 is ok,  but  01/12/2001  is
              not, since 01/11/2002 would sort lower while it is later).  This
              is because when using the rotate  option,  logrotate  sorts  all
              rotated  filenames  to  find  out  which  logfiles are older and
              should be removed.

       dateyesterday
              Use yesterday's instead of today's date to  create  the  dateext
              extension,  so  that the rotated log file has a date in its name
              that is the same as the timestamps within it.

       delaycompress
              Postpone compression of the previous log file to the next  rota-
              tion  cycle.  This only has effect when used in combination with
              compress.  It can be used when some program cannot  be  told  to
              close  its logfile and thus might continue writing to the previ-
              ous log file for some time.

       extension ext
              Log files with ext extension can keep it after the rotation.  If
              compression  is  used,  the compression extension (normally .gz)
              appears  after  ext.  For  example  you  have  a  logfile  named
              mylog.foo  and  want  to  rotate it to mylog.1.foo.gz instead of
              mylog.foo.1.gz.

       hourly Log files are rotated every hour. Note that usually logrotate is
              configured to be run by cron daily. You have to change this con-
              figuration and run logrotate hourly to be able to really  rotate
              logs hourly.

       ifempty
              Rotate  the  log  file  even  if  it  is  empty,  overriding the
              notifempty option (ifempty is the default).

       include file_or_directory
              Reads the file given as an argument as if it was included inline
              where  the  include  directive appears. If a directory is given,
              most of the files in that directory are read in alphabetic order
              before  processing  of  the  including  file continues. The only
              files which are ignored are files which are  not  regular  files
              (such  as directories and named pipes) and files whose names end
              with one of the taboo extensions, as specified by  the  tabooext
              directive.

       mail address
              When a log is rotated out of existence, it is mailed to address.
              If no mail should be generated by a particular log,  the  nomail
              directive may be used.

       mailfirst
              When using the mail command, mail the just-rotated file, instead
              of the about-to-expire file.

       maillast
              When using the mail  command,  mail  the  about-to-expire  file,
              instead of the just-rotated file (this is the default).

       maxage count
              Remove  rotated  logs  older  than <count> days. The age is only
              checked if the logfile is to be rotated. The files are mailed to
              the configured address if maillast and mail are configured.

       maxsize size
              Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than size bytes even
              before the additionally specified time interval (daily,  weekly,
              monthly,  or yearly).  The related size option is similar except
              that it is mutually exclusive with the  time  interval  options,
              and  it  causes  log  files to be rotated without regard for the
              last rotation time.  When maxsize is used,  both  the  size  and
              timestamp of a log file are considered.

       minsize  size
              Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than size bytes, but
              not before the  additionally  specified  time  interval  (daily,
              weekly, monthly, or yearly).  The related size option is similar
              except that it is mutually  exclusive  with  the  time  interval
              options,  and  it  causes log files to be rotated without regard
              for the last rotation time.  When minsize is used, both the size
              and timestamp of a log file are considered.

       missingok
              If  the log file is missing, go on to the next one without issu-
              ing an error message. See also nomissingok.

       monthly
              Log files are rotated the first time logrotate is run in a month
              (this is normally on the first day of the month).

       nocompress
              Old versions of log files are not compressed. See also compress.

       nocopy Do  not copy the original log file and leave it in place.  (this
              overrides the copy option).

       nocopytruncate
              Do not truncate the original log file in place after creating  a
              copy (this overrides the copytruncate option).

       nocreate
              New  log  files  are  not  created  (this  overrides  the create
              option).

       nocreateolddir
              olddir directory is not created by logrotate when  it  does  not
              exist.

       nodelaycompress
              Do not postpone compression of the previous log file to the next
              rotation cycle (this overrides the delaycompress option).

       nodateext
              Do not archive  old versions of log files  with  date  extension
              (this overrides the dateext option).

       nomail Do not mail old log files to any address.

       nomissingok
              If  a  log  file  does  not  exist,  issue an error. This is the
              default.

       noolddir
              Logs are rotated in the directory they normally reside in  (this
              overrides the olddir option).

       nosharedscripts
              Run prerotate and postrotate scripts for every log file which is
              rotated (this is the default, and  overrides  the  sharedscripts
              option).  The  absolute  path to the log file is passed as first
              argument to the script. If the  scripts  exit  with  error,  the
              remaining  actions  will  not  be  executed for the affected log
              only.

       noshred
              Do not use shred when deleting old log files. See also shred.

       notifempty
              Do not rotate the log if it is empty (this overrides the ifempty
              option).

       olddir directory
              Logs  are  moved into directory for rotation. The directory must
              be on the same physical device as the log  file  being  rotated,
              unless  copy,  copytruncate  or  renamecopy  option is used. The
              directory is assumed to be relative to the directory holding the
              log  file  unless  an absolute path name is specified. When this
              option is used all old versions of the log end up in  directory.
              This option may be overridden by the noolddir option.

       postrotate/endscript
              The  lines  between postrotate and endscript (both of which must
              appear on lines by  themselves)  are  executed  (using  /bin/sh)
              after  the log file is rotated. These directives may only appear
              inside a log file definition. Normally, the absolute path to the
              log  file  is passed as first argument to the script. If shared-
              scripts is specified, whole pattern is  passed  to  the  script.
              See  also  prerotate.  See sharedscripts and nosharedscripts for
              error handling.

       prerotate/endscript
              The lines between prerotate and endscript (both  of  which  must
              appear  on  lines  by  themselves)  are executed (using /bin/sh)
              before the log file is rotated and only if the log will actually
              be  rotated.  These directives may only appear inside a log file
              definition. Normally, the absolute  path  to  the  log  file  is
              passed  as  first  argument to the script.  If  sharedscripts is
              specified, whole pattern is passed  to  the  script.   See  also
              postrotate.   See  sharedscripts  and  nosharedscripts for error
              handling.

       firstaction/endscript
              The lines between firstaction and endscript (both of which  must
              appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh) once
              before all log files  that  match  the  wildcarded  pattern  are
              rotated, before prerotate script is run and only if at least one
              log will actually be rotated.  These directives may only  appear
              inside  a  log  file  definition. Whole pattern is passed to the
              script as first argument. If the script  exits  with  error,  no
              further processing is done. See also lastaction.

       lastaction/endscript
              The  lines  between lastaction and endscript (both of which must
              appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh) once
              after  all  log  files  that  match  the  wildcarded pattern are
              rotated, after postrotate script is run and only if at least one
              log  is  rotated.  These directives may only appear inside a log
              file definition. Whole pattern is passed to the script as  first
              argument.  If the script exits with error, just an error message
              is shown (as this is the last action). See also firstaction.

       preremove/endscript
              The lines between preremove and endscript (both  of  which  must
              appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh) once
              just before removal of a log file.  The logrotate will pass  the
              name of file which is soon to be removed. See also firstaction.

       rotate count
              Log files are rotated count times before being removed or mailed
              to the address specified in a mail directive. If count is 0, old
              versions are removed rather than rotated.

       size size
              Log  files are rotated only if they grow bigger then size bytes.
              If size is followed by k, the size is assumed  to  be  in  kilo-
              bytes.   If the M is used, the size is in megabytes, and if G is
              used, the size is in gigabytes. So size  100,  size  100k,  size
              100M and size 100G are all valid.

       sharedscripts
              Normally,  prerotate and postrotate scripts are run for each log
              which is rotated and the absolute path to the log file is passed
              as  first argument to the script. That means a single script may
              be run multiple times for log file entries which match  multiple
              files (such as the /var/log/news/* example). If sharedscripts is
              specified, the scripts are only run once,  no  matter  how  many
              logs  match  the wildcarded pattern, and whole pattern is passed
              to them.  However, if none of the logs in  the  pattern  require
              rotating,  the  scripts  will  not be run at all. If the scripts
              exit with error, the remaining actions will not be executed  for
              any  logs.  This option overrides the nosharedscripts option and
              implies create option.

       shred  Delete log files using  shred  -u  instead  of  unlink().   This
              should  ensure  that logs are not readable after their scheduled
              deletion; this is off by default.  See also noshred.

       shredcycles count
              Asks GNU shred(1) to overwrite  log  files  count  times  before
              deletion.  Without this option, shred's default will be used.

       start count
              This is the number to use as the base for rotation. For example,
              if you specify 0, the logs will be created with a  .0  extension
              as they are rotated from the original log files.  If you specify
              9, log files will be created with a  .9,  skipping  0-8.   Files
              will  still  be  rotated  the number of times specified with the
              rotate directive.

       su user group
              Rotate log files set under this user and group instead of  using
              default  user/group (usually root). user specifies the user name
              used for rotation and group specifies the group used  for  rota-
              tion.  If  the  user/group you specify here does not have suffi-
              cient privilege to make files with the ownership  you've  speci-
              fied in a create instruction, it will cause an error.

       tabooext [+] list
              The  current  taboo  extension  list is changed (see the include
              directive for information on the taboo extensions). If a +  pre-
              cedes  the  list of extensions, the current taboo extension list
              is augmented, otherwise it is replaced. At  startup,  the  taboo
              extension   list  contains  .rpmsave,  .rpmorig,  ~,  .disabled,
              .dpkg-old, .dpkg-dist, .dpkg-new, .cfsaved, .ucf-old, .ucf-dist,
              .ucf-new, .rpmnew, .swp, .cfsaved, .rhn-cfg-tmp-*

       weekly [weekday]
              Log  files  are  rotated  once  each  weekday, or if the date is
              advanced by at least 7  days  since  the  last  rotation  (while
              ignoring  the exact time).  The weekday intepretation is follow-
              ing:  0 means Sunday, 1 means Monday, ..., 6 means Saturday; the
              special  value  7  means each 7 days, irrespectively of weekday.
              Defaults to 0 if the weekday argument is omitted.

       yearly Log files are rotated if the current year is not the same as the
              last rotation.

FILES
       /var/lib/logrotate/logrotate.status
                                  Default state file.
       /etc/logrotate.conf        Configuration options.
SEE ALSO
       gzip(1)
       <https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>;
AUTHORS
       Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.
       <https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>;


Linux                           Wed Nov 5 2002                    LOGROTATE(8)