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 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¶
- -?, --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 logging 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
message, 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/status.
- --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 override 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
}
The first few lines set global options; in the example, logs are compressed
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 contains spaces). Normal
shell quoting rules apply, with
',
", and
\
characters supported.
The last section defines the parameters for all of the files in
/var/log/news. Each file is rotated on a monthly basis. This is
considered a single rotation directive and if errors occur for more than one
file, the log files are not compressed.
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
logrotate to report an error. This error cannot be stopped with the
missingok 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
compression is enabled. The default is ".gz". If you use a
different compression command, you will need to change compressext
accordingly.
- compressoptions
- Command line options may be passed to the compression
program, if one is in use. The default is "-9" (maximum
compression for gzip). If you use a different compression command, you may
need to change the compressoptions 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 create 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
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 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
- 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 daily 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 character
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 generated 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
rotation 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 previous 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.
- 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
issuing 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
sharedscripts 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.
- 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 kilobytes. 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 overwite 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
rotation.
- tabooext [+] list
- The current taboo extension list is changed (see the
include directive for information on the taboo extensions). If a +
precedes 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 logrotate 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>