LOGROTATE(8)



LOGROTATE(8)             System Administrator's Manual            LOGROTATE(8)

NAME
       logrotate - rotates, compresses, and mails system logs

SYNOPSIS
       logrotate  [--force]  [--debug] [--state file] [--verbose] [--log file]
       [--mail command] config_file [config_file2 ...]

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
       config  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
       -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.

       -d, --debug
              Turn on debug mode, which means that no changes are made to  the
              logs  and  the  logrotate state file is not updated.  Only debug
              messages are printed.

       -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.

       -v, --verbose
              Turns  on  verbose  mode, for example to display messages during
              rotation.

       -l, --log file
              Tells logrotate to log verbose output into  the  log_file.   The
              verbose  output  logged to that file is the same as when running
              logrotate with -v switch.  The log file is overwritten on  every
              logrotate execution.

       -m, --mail command
              Tells  logrotate  which  command to use when mailing logs.  This
              command should accept the following arguments:

              1) the subject of the message given with '-s subject'
              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.

       --usage
              Prints a short usage message.

       -?, --help
              Prints help message.

       --version
              Display version information.

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 recipient@example.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 #.

       Values  are  separated from directives by whitespace and/or an optional
       =.  Numbers must be specified in a format understood by strtoul(3).

       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 be-
       fore being removed.  After the log file has been  rotated  (but  before
       the   old  version  of  the  log  has  been  compressed),  the  command
       /usr/bin/killall -HUP syslogd will be executed.

       The next section defines the  parameters  for  both  /var/log/httpd/ac-
       cess.log  and  /var/log/httpd/error.log.   Each  is rotated whenever it
       grows over 100 kilobytes in size, and the old  logs  files  are  mailed
       (uncompressed)  to  recipient@example.org  after  going through 5 rota-
       tions, 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 contains 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).

       Here  is  more information on the directives which may be included in a
       logrotate configuration file:

CONFIGURATION FILE DIRECTIVES
       These directives may be included in a logrotate configuration file:

   Rotation
       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.  If count  is  -1,
              old  logs  are  not  removed at all (use with caution, may waste
              performance and disk space). Default is 0.

       olddir directory
              Logs are moved into directory for rotation.  The directory  must
              be  on  the  same physical device as the log file being rotated,
              unless copy, copytruncate or renamecopy option is used.  The di-
              rectory  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.

       noolddir
              Logs are rotated in the directory they normally reside in  (this
              overrides the olddir option).

       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.  If logro-
              tate  runs with root privileges, it is recommended to use the su
              directive to rotate files in directories that  are  directly  or
              indirectly in control of non-privileged users.

   Frequency
       hourly Log  files  are rotated every hour.  Note that usually logrotate
              is configured to be run by cron daily.  You have to change  this
              configuration  and run logrotate hourly to be able to really ro-
              tate logs hourly.

       daily  Log files are rotated every day.

       weekly [weekday]
              Log files are rotated once each weekday, or if the date  is  ad-
              vanced  by at least 7 days since the last rotation (while ignor-
              ing the exact time).  The weekday interpretation is following: 0
              means Sunday, 1 means Monday, ..., 6 means Saturday; the special
              value 7 means each 7 days, irrespectively of weekday.   Defaults
              to 0 if the weekday argument is omitted.

       monthly
              Log files are rotated the first time logrotate is run in a month
              (this is normally on the first day of the month).

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

       size size
              Log  files are rotated only if they grow bigger than 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.  This option is mutually ex-
              clusive with the time interval options, and it causes log  files
              to  be  rotated  without  regard  for the last rotation time, if
              specified after the time criteria  (the  last  specified  option
              takes the precedence).

   File selection
       missingok
              If  the log file is missing, go on to the next one without issu-
              ing an error message.  See also nomissingok.

       nomissingok
              If a log file does not exist, issue an error.  This is  the  de-
              fault.

       ifempty
              Rotate  the  log  file  even  if it is empty, overriding the no-
              tifempty option (ifempty is the default).

       notifempty
              Do not rotate the log if it is empty (this overrides the ifempty
              option).

       minage count
              Do not rotate logs which are less than <count> days old.

       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.

       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  op-
              tions,  and it causes log files to be rotated without regard for
              the last rotation time, if specified  after  the  time  criteria
              (the  last specified option takes the precedence).  When minsize
              is used, both the size and timestamp of a log file  are  consid-
              ered.

       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, if specified after the  time  criteria  (the
              last  specified  option  takes the precedence).  When maxsize is
              used, both the size and timestamp of a log file are considered.

       tabooext [+] list
              The current taboo extension list is changed (see the include di-
              rective  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 ,v, .cfsaved,  .disabled,  .dpkg-bak,  .dpkg-del,
              .dpkg-dist,  .dpkg-new, .dpkg-old, .rhn-cfg-tmp-*, .rpmnew, .rp-
              morig, .rpmsave, .swp, .ucf-dist, .ucf-new, .ucf-old, ~

       taboopat [+] list
              The current taboo glob pattern list is changed (see the  include
              directive for information on the taboo extensions and patterns).
              If a + precedes the list of patterns, the current taboo  pattern
              list  is  augmented,  otherwise it is replaced.  At startup, the
              taboo pattern list is empty.

   Files and Folders
       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.

       nocreate
              New log files are not created (this  overrides  the  create  op-
              tion).

       createolddir mode owner group
              If  the  directory specified by olddir directive does not exist,
              it is created. mode specifies the mode for the olddir  directory
              in  octal  (the same as chmod(2)), owner specifies the user name
              who will own the olddir directory, and group specifies the group
              the  olddir  directory  will belong to.  This option can be dis-
              abled using the nocreateolddir option.

       nocreateolddir
              olddir directory is not created by logrotate when  it  does  not
              exist.

       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.

       nocopy Do not copy the original log file and leave it in place.   (this
              overrides the copy option).

       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  (ap-
              pending) to the previous log file forever.  Note that there is a
              very small time slice between copying the  file  and  truncating
              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.

       nocopytruncate
              Do  not truncate the original log file in place after creating a
              copy (this overrides the copytruncate option).

       renamecopy
              Log file is renamed to temporary filename in the same  directory
              by adding ".tmp" extension to it.  After that, postrotate script
              is run and log file is copied from temporary filename  to  final
              filename.   This allows storing rotated log files on the differ-
              ent devices using olddir directive. In the end, temporary  file-
              name is removed.

       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.

       noshred
              Do not use shred when deleting old log files.  See also shred.

       shredcycles count
              Asks  GNU  shred(1)  to  overwrite  log files count times before
              deletion.  Without this option, shred's default will be used.

   Compression
       compress
              Old versions of log files are compressed  with  gzip(1)  by  de-
              fault.  See also nocompress.

       nocompress
              Old  versions  of  log  files are not compressed.  See also com-
              press.

       compresscmd
              Specifies which command to use to compress log files.   The  de-
              fault is gzip(1).  See also compress.

       uncompresscmd
              Specifies which command to use to uncompress log files.  The de-
              fault 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 to-
              wards high compression at the expense of speed).  If you  use  a
              different  compression  command, you may need to change the com-
              pressoptions to match.

       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.

       nodelaycompress
              Do not postpone compression of the previous log file to the next
              rotation cycle (this overrides the delaycompress option).

   Filenames
       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 my-
              log.foo and want to rotate it to mylog.1.foo.gz instead  of  my-
              log.foo.1.gz.

       addextension ext
              Log  files are given the final extension ext after rotation.  If
              the original file already ends with ext, the  extension  is  not
              duplicated,  but  merely moved to the end, that is both filename
              and filenameext would get rotated to filename.1ext.  If compres-
              sion  is  used, the compression extension (normally .gz) appears
              after ext.

       start count
              This is the number to use as the base for rotation.   For  exam-
              ple, if you specify 0, the logs will be created with a .0 exten-
              sion 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.

       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.

       nodateext
              Do  not  archive  old  versions of log files with date extension
              (this overrides the dateext option).

       dateformat format_string
              Specify the extension for dateext using the notation similar  to
              strftime(3)  function.   Only %Y %m %d %H %M %S %V and %s speci-
              fiers are allowed.  The default value is -%Y%m%d except  hourly,
              which uses -%Y%m%d%H as default value.  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 (that is first
              the year, then the month then the day.  For  example  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  op-
              tion,  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.

       datehourago
              Use hour ago instead of current date to create the  dateext  ex-
              tension,  so  that  the  rotated log file has a hour in its name
              that is the same as the timestamps within it.  Useful  with  ro-
              tate hourly.

   Mail
       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.

       nomail Do not mail old log files to any address.

       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,  in-
              stead of the just-rotated file (this is the default).

   Scripts
       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 or patterns, as specified by
              the tabooext or taboopat directives, respectively.  For security
              reasons  configuration  files  must  not  be  group-writable nor
              world-writable.

       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.

       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.  The absolute path to the final  rotated
              log  file  is  passed  as  the second argument to the postrotate
              script.  If the scripts exit with error, the  remaining  actions
              will not be executed for the affected log only.

       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 ro-
              tated, 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  ro-
              tated,  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.

       prerotate/endscript
              The  lines  between  prerotate and endscript (both of which must
              appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh)  be-
              fore  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.

       postrotate/endscript
              The  lines  between postrotate and endscript (both of which must
              appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh)  af-
              ter  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 and the
              absolute path to the final rotated log file  is  passed  as  the
              second  argument  to the script.  If sharedscripts is specified,
              the whole pattern is passed as the first argument to the script,
              and  the  second  argument is omitted.  See also prerotate.  See
              sharedscripts and nosharedscripts for error handling.

       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.

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

SEE ALSO
       chmod(2),  gunzip(1),  gzip(1),  mail(1),  shred(1),  strftime(3), str-
       toul(3), <https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>

AUTHORS
       Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.

       <https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>

Linux                               3.16.0                        LOGROTATE(8)

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