1LOGROTATE(8) System Administrator's Manual LOGROTATE(8)
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6 logrotate - rotates, compresses, and mails system logs
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9 logrotate [-dv] [-f|--force] [-s|--state file] config_file+
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12 logrotate is designed to ease administration of systems that generate
13 large numbers of log files. It allows automatic rotation, compression,
14 removal, and mailing of log files. Each log file may be handled daily,
15 weekly, monthly, or when it grows too large.
16 Normally, logrotate is run as a daily cron job. It will not modify a
18 log multiple times in one day unless the criterium for that log is
19 based on the log's size and logrotate is being run multiple times each
20 day, or unless the -f or -force option is used.
21 Any number of config files may be given on the command line. Later con‐
23 fig files may override the options given in earlier files, so the order
24 in which the logrotate config files are listed in is important. Nor‐
25 mally, a single config file which includes any other config files which
26 are needed should be used. See below for more information on how to
27 use the include directive to accomplish this. If a directory is given
28 on the command line, every file in that directory is used as a config
29 file.
30 If no command line arguments are given, logrotate will print version
32 and copyright information, along with a short usage summary. If any
33 errors occur while rotating logs, logrotate will exit with non-zero
34 status.
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38 -v Turn on verbose mode.
39 -d Turns on debug mode and implies -v. In debug mode, no changes
42 will be made to the logs or to the logrotate state file.
43 -f, --force
46 Tells logrotate to force the rotation, even if it doesn't think
47 this is necessary. Sometimes this is useful after adding new
48 entries to logrotate, or if old log files have been removed by
49 hand, as the new files will be created, and logging will con‐
50 tinue correctly.
51 -m, --mail <command>
54 Tells logrotate which command to use when mailing logs. This
55 command should accept two arguments: 1) the subject of the mes‐
56 sage, and 2) the recipient. The command must then read a message
57 on standard input and mail it to the recipient. The default mail
58 command is /bin/mail -s.
59 -s, --state <statefile>
62 Tells logrotate to use an alternate state file. This is useful
63 if logrotate is being run as a different user for various sets
64 of log files. The default state file is /var/lib/logrotate/sta‐
65 tus.
66 --usage
69 Prints a short usage message.
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73 logrotate reads everything about the log files it should be handling
74 from the series of configuration files specified on the command line.
75 Each configuration file can set global options (local definitions over‐
76 ride global ones, and later definitions override earlier ones) and
77 specify logfiles to rotate. A simple configuration file looks like
78 this:
79 # sample logrotate configuration file
81 compress
82 /var/log/messages {
84 rotate 5
85 weekly
86 postrotate
87 /sbin/killall -HUP syslogd
88 endscript
89 }
90 "/var/log/httpd/access.log" /var/log/httpd/error.log {
92 rotate 5
93 mail www@my.org
94 size=100k
95 sharedscripts
96 postrotate
97 /sbin/killall -HUP httpd
98 endscript
99 }
100 /var/log/news/* {
102 monthly
103 rotate 2
104 olddir /var/log/news/old
105 missingok
106 postrotate
107 kill -HUP `cat /var/run/inn.pid`
108 endscript
109 nocompress
110 }
111 The first few lines set global options; in the example, logs are com‐
114 pressed after they are rotated. Note that comments may appear anywhere
115 in the config file as long as the first non-whitespace character on the
116 line is a #.
117 The next section of the config files defined how to handle the log file
119 /var/log/messages. The log will go through five weekly rotations before
120 being removed. After the log file has been rotated (but before the old
121 version of the log has been compressed), the command /sbin/killall -HUP
122 syslogd will be executed.
123 The next section defines the parameters for both
125 /var/log/httpd/access.log and /var/log/httpd/error.log. They are
126 rotated whenever it grows over 100k in size, and the old logs files are
127 mailed (uncompressed) to www@my.org after going through 5 rotations,
128 rather then being removed. The sharedscripts means that the postrotate
129 script will only be run once, not once for each log which is rotated.
130 Note that the double quotes around the first filename at the beginning
131 of this section allows logrotate to rotate logs with spaces in the
132 name. Normal shell quoting rules apply, with ', ", and \ characters
133 supported.
134 The last section defines the parameters for all of the files in
136 /var/log/news. Each file is rotated on a monthly basis. This is con‐
137 sidered a single rotation directive and if errors occur for more then
138 one file, the log files are not compressed.
139 Please use wildcards with caution. If you specify *, logrotate will
141 rotate all files, including previously rotated ones. A way around this
142 is to use the olddir directive or a more exact wildcard (such as
143 *.log).
144 Here is more information on the directives which may be included in a
146 logrotate configuration file:
147 compress
150 Old versions of log files are compressed with gzip by default.
151 See also nocompress.
152 compresscmd
155 Specifies which command to use to compress log files. The
156 default is gzip. See also compress.
157 uncompresscmd
160 Specifies which command to use to uncompress log files. The
161 default is gunzip.
162 compressext
165 Specifies which extension to use on compressed logfiles, if com‐
166 pression is enabled. The default follows that of the configured
167 compression command.
168 compressoptions
171 Command line options may be passed to the compression program,
172 if one is in use. The default, for gzip, is "-9" (maximum com‐
173 pression).
174 copy Make a copy of the log file, but don't change the original at
177 all. This option can be used, for instance, to make a snapshot
178 of the current log file, or when some other utility needs to
179 truncate or pare the file. When this option is used, the create
180 option will have no effect, as the old log file stays in place.
181 copytruncate
184 Truncate the original log file in place after creating a copy,
185 instead of moving the old log file and optionally creating a new
186 one, It can be used when some program can not be told to close
187 its logfile and thus might continue writing (appending) to the
188 previous log file forever. Note that there is a very small time
189 slice between copying the file and truncating it, so some log‐
190 ging data might be lost. When this option is used, the create
191 option will have no effect, as the old log file stays in place.
192 create mode owner group
195 Immediately after rotation (before the postrotate script is run)
196 the log file is created (with the same name as the log file just
197 rotated). mode specifies the mode for the log file in octal
198 (the same as chmod(2)), owner specifies the user name who will
199 own the log file, and group specifies the group the log file
200 will belong to. Any of the log file attributes may be omitted,
201 in which case those attributes for the new file will use the
202 same values as the original log file for the omitted attributes.
203 This option can be disabled using the nocreate option.
204 daily Log files are rotated every day.
207 dateext
210 Archive old versions of log files adding a daily extension like
211 YYYYMMDD instead of simply adding a number.
212 delaycompress
215 Postpone compression of the previous log file to the next rota‐
216 tion cycle. This has only effect when used in combination with
217 compress. It can be used when some program can not be told to
218 close its logfile and thus might continue writing to the previ‐
219 ous log file for some time.
220 extension ext
223 Log files with ext extension can keep it after the rotation. If
224 compression is used, the compression extension (normally .gz)
225 appears after ext. For example you have a logfile named
226 mylog.foo and want to rotate it to mylog.1.foo.gz instead of
227 mylog.foo.1.gz.
228 ifempty
231 Rotate the log file even if it is empty, overiding the
232 notifempty option (ifempty is the default).
233 include file_or_directory
236 Reads the file given as an argument as if it was included inline
237 where the include directive appears. If a directory is given,
238 most of the files in that directory are read in alphabetic order
239 before processing of the including file continues. The only
240 files which are ignored are files which are not regular files
241 (such as directories and named pipes) and files whose names end
242 with one of the taboo extensions, as specified by the tabooext
243 directive. The include directive may not appear inside of a log
244 file definition.
245 mail address
248 When a log is rotated out-of-existence, it is mailed to address.
249 If no mail should be generated by a particular log, the nomail
250 directive may be used.
251 mailfirst
254 When using the mail command, mail the just-rotated file, instead
255 of the about-to-expire file.
256 maillast
259 When using the mail command, mail the about-to-expire file,
260 instead of the just-rotated file (this is the default).
261 maxage count
264 Remove rotated logs older than <count> days. The age is only
265 checked if the logfile is to be rotated. The files are mailed to
266 the configured address if maillast and mail are configured.
267 minsize size
270 Log files are rotated when they grow bigger then size bytes, but
271 not before the additionally specified time interval (daily,
272 weekly, monthly, or yearly). The related size option is similar
273 except that it is mutually exclusive with the time interval
274 options, and it causes log files to be rotated without regard
275 for the last rotation time. When minsize is used, both the size
276 and timestamp of a log file are considered.
277 missingok
280 If the log file is missing, go on to the next one without issu‐
281 ing an error message. See also nomissingok.
282 monthly
285 Log files are rotated the first time logrotate is run in a month
286 (this is normally on the first day of the month).
287 nocompress
290 Old versions of log files are not compressed with gzip. See also
291 compress.
292 nocopy Do not copy the original log file and leave it in place. (this
295 overrides the copy option).
296 nocopytruncate
299 Do not truncate the original log file in place after creating a
300 copy (this overrides the copytruncate option).
301 nocreate
304 New log files are not created (this overrides the create
305 option).
306 nodelaycompress
309 Do not postpone compression of the previous log file to the next
310 rotation cycle (this overrides the delaycompress option).
311 nodateext
314 Do not archive old versions of log files with date extension
315 (this overrides the dateext option).
316 nomail Don't mail old log files to any address.
319 nomissingok
322 If a log file does not exist, issue an error. This is the
323 default.
324 noolddir
327 Logs are rotated in the same directory the log normally resides
328 in (this overrides the olddir option).
329 nosharedscripts
332 Run prerotate and postrotate scripts for every log file which is
333 rotated (this is the default, and overrides the sharedscripts
334 option). If the scripts exit with error, the remaining actions
335 will not be executed for the affected log only.
336 notifempty
339 Do not rotate the log if it is empty (this overrides the ifempty
340 option).
341 olddir directory
344 Logs are moved into directory for rotation. The directory must
345 be on the same physical device as the log file being rotated,
346 and is assumed to be relative to the directory holding the log
347 file unless an absolute path name is specified. When this option
348 is used all old versions of the log end up in directory. This
349 option may be overriden by the noolddir option.
350 postrotate/endscript
353 The lines between postrotate and endscript (both of which must
354 appear on lines by themselves) are executed after the log file
355 is rotated. These directives may only appear inside of a log
356 file definition. See prerotate as well. See sharedscripts and
357 nosharedscripts for error handling.
358 prerotate/endscript
361 The lines between prerotate and endscript (both of which must
362 appear on lines by themselves) are executed before the log file
363 is rotated and only if the log will actually be rotated. These
364 directives may only appear inside of a log file definition. See
365 postrotate as well. See sharedscripts and nosharedscripts for
366 error handling.
367 firstaction/endscript
370 The lines between firstaction and endscript (both of which must
371 appear on lines by themselves) are executed once before all log
372 files that match the wildcarded pattern are rotated, before pre‐
373 rotate script is run and only if at least one log will actually
374 be rotated. These directives may only appear inside of a log
375 file definition. If the script exits with error, no further pro‐
376 cessing is done. See lastaction as well.
377 lastaction/endscript
380 The lines between lastaction and endscript (both of which must
381 appear on lines by themselves) are executed once after all log
382 files that match the wildcarded pattern are rotated, after
383 postrotate script is run and only if at least one log is
384 rotated. These directives may only appear inside of a log file
385 definition. If the script exits with error, just an error mes‐
386 sage is shown (as this is the last action). See firstaction as
387 well.
388 rotate count
391 Log files are rotated <count> times before being removed or
392 mailed to the address specified in a mail directive. If count is
393 0, old versions are removed rather then rotated.
394 size size
397 Log files are rotated when they grow bigger then size bytes. If
398 size is followed by M, the size if assumed to be in megabytes.
399 If the k is used, the size is in kilobytes. So size 100, size
400 100k, and size 100M are all valid.
401 sharedscripts
404 Normally, prescript and postscript scripts are run for each log
405 which is rotated, meaning that a single script may be run multi‐
406 ple times for log file entries which match multiple files (such
407 as the /var/log/news/* example). If sharedscript is specified,
408 the scripts are only run once, no matter how many logs match the
409 wildcarded pattern. However, if none of the logs in the pattern
410 require rotating, the scripts will not be run at all. If the
411 scripts exit with error, the remaining actions will not be exe‐
412 cuted for any logs. This option overrides the nosharedscripts
413 option and implies create option.
414 start count
418 This is the number to use as the base for rotation. For example,
419 if you specify 0, the logs will be created with a .0 extension
420 as they are rotated from the original log files. If you specify
421 9, log files will be created with a .9, skipping 0-8. Files
422 will still be rotated the number of times specified with the
423 count directive.
424 tabooext [+] list
427 The current taboo extension list is changed (see the include
428 directive for information on the taboo extensions). If a + pre‐
429 cedes the list of extensions, the current taboo extension list
430 is augmented, otherwise it is replaced. At startup, the taboo
431 extension list contains .rpmorig, .rpmsave, ,v, .swp, .rpmnew,
432 and ~.
433 weekly Log files are rotated if the current weekday is less then the
436 weekday of the last rotation or if more then a week has passed
437 since the last rotation. This is normally the same as rotating
438 logs on the first day of the week, but it works better if logro‐
439 tate is not run every night.
440 yearly Log files are rotated if the current year is not the same as the
443 last rotation.
444
447 /var/lib/logrotate.status Default state file.
448 /etc/logrotate.conf Configuration options.
449
451 gzip(1)
452
454 Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
455 Preston Brown <pbrown@redhat.com>
456Red Hat Linux Wed Nov 5 2002 LOGROTATE(8)