1ROTATELOGS(8) rotatelogs ROTATELOGS(8)
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6 rotatelogs - Piped logging program to rotate Apache logs
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10 rotatelogs [ -l ] [ -f ] logfile rotationtime|filesizeM [ offset ]
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15 rotatelogs is a simple program for use in conjunction with Apache's
16 piped logfile feature. It supports rotation based on a time interval or
17 maximum size of the log.
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22 -l Causes the use of local time rather than GMT as the base for the
23 interval or for strftime(3) formatting with size-based rotation.
24 Note that using -l in an environment which changes the GMT off‐
25 set (such as for BST or DST) can lead to unpredictable results!
26 -f Causes the logfile to be opened immediately, as soon as rotatel‐
28 ogs starts, instead of waiting for the first logfile entry to be
29 read (for non-busy sites, there may be a substantial delay
30 between when the server is started and when the first request is
31 handled, meaning that the associated logfile does not "exist"
32 until then, which causes problems from some automated logging
33 tools). Available in version 2.2.9 and later.
34 logfile
36 The path plus basename of the logfile. If logfile includes any
37 '%' characters, it is treated as a format string for strf‐
38 time(3). Otherwise, the suffix .nnnnnnnnnn is automatically
39 added and is the time in seconds. Both formats compute the start
40 time from the beginning of the current period. For example, if a
41 rotation time of 86400 is specified, the hour, minute, and sec‐
42 ond fields created from the strftime(3) format will all be zero,
43 referring to the beginning of the current 24-hour period (mid‐
44 night).
45 rotationtime
47 The time between log file rotations in seconds. The rotation
48 occurs at the beginning of this interval. For example, if the
49 rotation time is 3600, the log file will be rotated at the
50 beginning of every hour; if the rotation time is 86400, the log
51 file will be rotated every night at midnight. (If no data is
52 logged during an interval, no file will be created.)
53 filesizeM
55 The maximum file size in megabytes followed by the letter M to
56 specify size rather than time.
57 offset The number of minutes offset from UTC. If omitted, zero is
59 assumed and UTC is used. For example, to use local time in the
60 zone UTC -5 hours, specify a value of -300 for this argument. In
61 most cases, -l should be used instead of specifying an offset.
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65 CustomLog "|bin/rotatelogs /var/logs/logfile 86400" common
66 This creates the files /var/logs/logfile.nnnn where nnnn is the system
70 time at which the log nominally starts (this time will always be a mul‐
71 tiple of the rotation time, so you can synchronize cron scripts with
72 it). At the end of each rotation time (here after 24 hours) a new log
73 is started.
74 CustomLog "|bin/rotatelogs -l /var/logs/logfile.%Y.%m.%d 86400" common
77 This creates the files /var/logs/logfile.yyyy.mm.dd where yyyy is the
81 year, mm is the month, and dd is the day of the month. Logging will
82 switch to a new file every day at midnight, local time.
83 CustomLog "|bin/rotatelogs /var/logs/logfile 5M" common
86 This configuration will rotate the logfile whenever it reaches a size
90 of 5 megabytes.
91 ErrorLog "|bin/rotatelogs /var/logs/errorlog.%Y-%m-%d-%H_%M_%S 5M"
94 This configuration will rotate the error logfile whenever it reaches a
98 size of 5 megabytes, and the suffix to the logfile name will be created
99 of the form errorlog.YYYY-mm-dd-HH_MM_SS.
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103 The following logfile format string substitutions should be supported
104 by all strftime(3) implementations, see the strftime(3) man page for
105 library-specific extensions.
106 · %A - full weekday name (localized)
109 · %a - 3-character weekday name (localized)
112 · %B - full month name (localized)
115 · %b - 3-character month name (localized)
118 · %c - date and time (localized)
121 · %d - 2-digit day of month
124 · %H - 2-digit hour (24 hour clock)
127 · %I - 2-digit hour (12 hour clock)
130 · %j - 3-digit day of year
133 · %M - 2-digit minute
136 · %m - 2-digit month
139 · %p - am/pm of 12 hour clock (localized)
142 · %S - 2-digit second
145 · %U - 2-digit week of year (Sunday first day of week)
148 · %W - 2-digit week of year (Monday first day of week)
151 · %w - 1-digit weekday (Sunday first day of week)
154 · %X - time (localized)
157 · %x - date (localized)
160 · %Y - 4-digit year
163 · %y - 2-digit year
166 · %Z - time zone name
169 · %% - literal `%'
172Apache HTTP Server 2008-05-10 ROTATELOGS(8)