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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  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 /usr/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, 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@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@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).

       If the directory /var/log/news does not exist, this will	 cause	logro‐
       tate  to report an error. This error cannot be stopped with the missin‐
       gok directive.

       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.

       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 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,
	      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.  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 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)

NOTES
       The killall(1) program in Debian is found in the psmisc package.

AUTHORS
       Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.

       <logrotate-owner@fedoraproject.org>
       <http://fedorahosted.org/logrotate/>

       Corrections and changes for Debian by Paul Martin <pm@debian.org>

Linux				Wed Nov 5 2002			  LOGROTATE(8)
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