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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  multiple  times  in	 one  day unless the criterion for that log is
       based on the log's size and logrotate is being run multiple times  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/logrotate.sta‐
	      tus.

       --usage
	      Prints a short usage message.

       +-v, --verbose
	      Turns on verbose mode.

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@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 files defined 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.    They   are
       rotated whenever it grows over 100k in size, and the old logs files are
       mailed (uncompressed) to www@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 the double quotes
       around the first filename at  the  beginning  of	 this  section	allows
       logrotate  to rotate logs with spaces in the name. 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.	See also compress.

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

       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 in place after creating 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 truncating it, so  some  log‐
	      ging  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.

       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	and  %s specifiers are
	      allowed.	The default value is -%Y%m%d. Note that also the char‐
	      acter  separating	 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 gener‐
	      ated by this format 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).

       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 Don't 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 same directory the log normally  resides
	      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,
	      and  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.

       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 Log files are rotated if the current weekday is  less  than  the
	      weekday  of  the last rotation or if more than a week has passed
	      since the last rotation. This is normally the same  as  rotating
	      logs on the first day of the week, but it works better if logro‐
	      tate is not run every night.

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

FILES
       /var/lib/logrotate.status  Default state file.
       /etc/logrotate.conf	  Configuration options.

SEE ALSO
       gzip(1)

       <http://fedorahosted.org/logrotate/>

AUTHORS
       Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.

       <logrotate-owner@fedoraproject.org>

Linux				Wed Nov 5 2002			  LOGROTATE(8)
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