1SHTOOL-ROTATE.TMP(1) GNU Portable Shell Tool SHTOOL-ROTATE.TMP(1)
2
6 shtool rotate - GNU shtool log file rotation
7
9 shtool rotate [-v|--verbose] [-t|--trace] [-f|--force] [-n|--num-files
10 count] [-s|--size size] [-c|--copy] [-r|--remove] [-a|--archive-dir
11 dir] [-z|--compress [tool:]level] [-b|--background] [-d|--delay]
12 [-p|--pad len] [-m|--mode mode] [-o|--owner owner] [-g|--group group]
13 [-M|--migrate cmd] [-P|--prolog cmd] [-E|--epilog cmd] file [file ...]
14
16 This command rotates a logfile file by subsequently creating up to
17 count (optionally compressed) archive files of it. Archive files are
18 named "file.number[compress-suffix]" where number is the version
19 number, 0 being the newest and "count-1" the oldest.
20 A rotation step consists of the following steps
22 1. remove last archive file 2. shift archive file numbers 3. create
24 archive file 0 from file 4. truncate/recreate file
25
27 The following command line options are available.
28 -v, --verbose
30 Display some processing information.
31 -t, --trace
33 Enable the output of the essential shell commands which are
34 executed.
35 -f, --force
37 Force silent creation of archive directory if it does not exists.
38 Also skip missing intermediate logfiles in the rotation step.
39 Default is to exit with error in both cases. FIXME
40 -n, --num-files count
42 Create count archive files. Default is 10.
43 -s, --size size
45 Only rotate if logfile exceeds size. The argument size can be
46 specified also with the trailing units "K" (kilo), "M" (mega) or
47 "G" (giga). The "prolog" and "epilog" are only executed if rotation
48 actually takes place.
49 -c, --copy
51 Copy file to archive then truncate original. The default is to move
52 file to archive.
53 Unless an application reopens its logfile it will continue to write
55 to the same file. In the default move case the application will
56 write to the archive which it had previously opened as file. In the
57 copy case the application will write to the original file. The
58 drawback of the copy approach is that logfile entries are lost when
59 they are written to file between the execution of the copy and the
60 truncation operation. The drawback of the move approach is that the
61 application needs to detect the move or must be triggered to reopen
62 its log (i.e. through epilog).
63 -r, --remove
65 Removes file after rotation instead of providing a new empty file.
66 -a, --archive-dir dir
68 Specify the archive directory. Default is to create archives in the
69 same directory as file is located.
70 -z, --compress [tool:]level
72 Enables compression of archive files with compression level level
73 By default, the tools bzip2(1), gzip(1) and compress(1) are
74 searched for in $PATH, but one also can override this by prefixing
75 the compression level with one of the three particular tool names.
76 -b, --background
78 Enable background compression.
79 -d, --delay
81 Delays the compression of archive file number 0. This is useful if
82 ``-c'' is not used, because an application might continue to write
83 to archive file 0 through an already open file handle.
84 -p, --pad len
86 Enables padding with leading zeros in the number part of the
87 filename "file.numbercompress-suffix". The default padding len is
88 1. This is interesting if more than 10 archive files are used,
89 because it leads to still sorted directory listings.
90 -m, --mode mode
92 The file mode applied to the created files, see chmod(1). Setting
93 mode to "-" skips this step and leaves the operating system default
94 which is usually based on umask(1). Some file modes require
95 superuser privileges to be set. Default is 0755.
96 -o, --owner owner
98 The file owner name or id applied to the created files, see
99 chown(1). This option requires superuser privileges to execute.
100 Default is to skip this step and leave the operating system default
101 which is usually based on the executing uid or the parent setuid
102 directory.
103 -g, --group group
105 The file group name or id applied to the created files, see
106 chgrp(1). This option requires superuser privileges to execute to
107 the fullest extend, otherwise the choice of group is limited on
108 most operating systems. Default is to skip this step and leave the
109 operating system default which is usually based on the executing
110 gid or the parent setgid directory.
111 -M, --migrate cmd
113 Execute a "migration" command just before the archive file number
114 count-1 is removed from the filesystem. The specified cmd receives
115 the archive filename as command line argument.
116 -P, --prolog cmd
118 Execute a "prolog" command before the rotation step. Useful in
119 conjunction with -s.
120 -E, --epilog cmd
122 Execute a "epilog" command after the rotation step. Useful in
123 conjunction with -s.
124
126 # shell script
127 shtool rotate -n10 -s1M -zbzip2:9 -d -r /var/log/ap.access.log
128 shtool rotate -n5 -s128K -zbzip2:9 -d -r /var/log/ap.error.log
129 apachectl graceful
130
132 The GNU shtool rotate command was originally written by Ralf S.
133 Engelschall <rse@engelschall.com> in 2001 for GNU shtool. Its
134 development was prompted by the need to have a flexible logfile
135 rotation facility in the OpenPKG project.
136
138 shtool(1), BSD newsyslog(8).
13918-Jul-2008 shtool 2.0.8 SHTOOL-ROTATE.TMP(1)