logrotate.8

.TH LOGROTATE 8 "Wed Nov 5 2002" "Linux" "System Administrator's Manual"
.SH NAME
logrotate \(hy rotates, compresses, and mails system logs
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBlogrotate\fR [\fB\-dv\fR] [\fB\-f\fR|\fB\-\-force\fR]
[\fB\-s\fR|\fB\-\-state \fIfile\fR] \fIconfig_file\fR ..
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBlogrotate\fR 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.
.P
Normally, \fBlogrotate\fR 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 \fBlogrotate\fR is being run more than once
each day, or unless the \fB\-f\fR or \fB\-\-force\fR option is used.
.P
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 \fBlogrotate\fR 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 \fBinclude\fR directive to accomplish this.  If a directory
is given on the command line, every file in that directory is used as
a config file.
.P
If no command line arguments are given, \fBlogrotate\fR will print
version and copyright information, along with a short usage summary.  If
any errors occur while rotating logs, \fBlogrotate\fR will exit with
non-zero status.

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
\fB\-?\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
Prints help message.

.TP
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-debug\fR
Turns on debug mode and implies \fB-v\fR.  In debug mode, no changes will
be made to the logs or to the \fBlogrotate\fR state file.

.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR
Tells \fBlogrotate\fR to force the rotation, even if it doesn't think
this is necessary.  Sometimes this is useful after adding new entries to
a \fBlogrotate\fR config file, or if old log files have been removed
by hand, as the new files will be created, and logging will continue
correctly.

.TP
\fB\-l <log_file>\fR
Tells \fBlogrotate\fR to log verbose output into the log_file. The verbose
output logged to that file is the same as when running \fBlogrotate\fR with
\fB-v\fR switch. The log file is overwritten on every logrotate execution.

.TP
\fB\-m\fR, \fB\-\-mail <command>\fR
Tells \fBlogrotate\fR 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 \fB/bin/mail
-s\fR.

.TP
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-state <statefile>\fR
Tells \fBlogrotate\fR 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 \fI/var/lib/logrotate.status\fR.

.TP
\fB\-\-usage\fR
Prints a short usage message.

.TP
+\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
Turns on verbose mode, ie. display messages during rotation.

.SH CONFIGURATION FILE

\fBlogrotate\fR 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:

.nf
.ta +8n
# 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 {}

.fi

.PP
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 \fB#\fR.

The next section of the config file defines how to handle the log file
\fI/var/log/messages\fR. 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 
\fI/sbin/killall \-HUP syslogd\fR will be executed.

The next section defines the parameters for both
\fI/var/log/httpd/access.log\fR and \fI/var/log/httpd/error.log\fR.
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 \fBsharedscripts\fR means that
the \fBpostrotate\fR 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 \fB'\fR, \fB"\fR, and \fB\\\fR
characters supported.

The next section defines the parameters for all of the files in
\fI/var/log/news\fR. 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.

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 *, \fBlogrotate\fR will
rotate all files, including previously rotated ones.  A way around this
is to use the \fBolddir\fR directive or a more exact wildcard (such as *.log).

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

.TP
\fBcompress\fR
Old versions of log files are compressed with \fBgzip\fR(1) by default. See also
\fBnocompress\fR. 

.TP
\fBcompresscmd\fR
Specifies which command to use to compress log files.  The default is
\fBgzip\fR(1).  See also \fBcompress\fR.

.TP
\fBuncompresscmd\fR
Specifies which command to use to uncompress log files.  The default is
\fBgunzip\fR(1).

.TP
\fBcompressext\fR
Specifies which extension to use on compressed logfiles, if compression
is enabled.  The default follows that of the configured compression
command.

.TP
\fBcompressoptions\fR
Command line options may be passed to the compression program, if one is
in use.  The default, for \fBgzip\fR(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
\fBcompressoptions\fR to match.


.TP
\fBcopy\fR
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 \fBcreate\fR option will have no effect,
as the old log file stays in place.

.TP
\fBcopytruncate\fR
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 \fBcreate\fR option will have no effect,
as the old log file stays in place.

.TP
\fBcreate \fImode\fR \fIowner\fR \fIgroup\fR, \fBcreate \fIowner\fR \fIgroup\fR
Immediately after rotation (before the \fBpostrotate\fR script is run)
the log file is created (with the same name as the log file just rotated).
\fImode\fR specifies the mode for the log file in octal (the same
as \fBchmod\fR(2)), \fIowner\fR specifies the user name who will own the
log file, and \fIgroup\fR 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
\fBnocreate\fR option.

.TP
\fBcreateolddir \fImode\fR \fIowner\fR \fIgroup\fR
If the directory specified by \fBolddir\fR directive does not exist, it is
created. \fImode\fR specifies the mode for the \fBolddir\fR directory
in octal (the same as \fBchmod\fR(2)), \fIowner\fR specifies the user name
who will own the \fBolddir\fR directory, and \fIgroup\fR specifies the group
the \fBolddir\fR directory will belong to. This option can be disabled using the
\fBnocreateolddir\fR option.


.TP
\fBdaily\fR
Log files are rotated every day.

.TP
\fBdateext\fR
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 \fBdateformat\fR and \fBdateyesterday\fR options.

.TP
\fBdateformat\fR \fIformat_string\fR
Specify the extension for \fBdateext\fR using the notation similar to
\fBstrftime\fR(3) function. Only %Y %m %d %H %M %S %V and %s specifiers are
allowed.
The default value is \-%Y%m%d except hourly, which uses \-%Y%m%d%H as default
value.  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 \fBrotate\fR option, logrotate sorts all
rotated filenames to find out which logfiles are older and should be removed.

.TP
\fBdateyesterday\fR
Use yesterday's instead of today's date to create the \fBdateext\fR
extension, so that the rotated log file has a date in its name that is
the same as the timestamps within it.

.TP
\fBdelaycompress\fR
Postpone compression of the previous log file to the next rotation cycle.
This only has effect when used in combination with \fBcompress\fR.
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.

.TP
\fBextension \fIext\fR
Log files with \fIext\fR extension can keep it after the rotation. 
If compression  is  used,  the compression extension (normally \fI.gz\fR) 
appears after \fIext\fR. 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.

.TP
\fBhourly\fR
Log files are rotated every hour. Note that usually \fIlogrotate\fR is
configured to be run by cron daily. You have to change this configuration
and run \fIlogrotate\fR hourly to be able to really rotate logs hourly.

.TP
\fBifempty\fR
Rotate the log file even if it is empty, overriding the \fBnotifempty\fR
option (\fBifempty\fR is the default).

.TP
\fBinclude \fIfile_or_directory\fR
Reads the file given as an argument as if it was included inline
where the \fBinclude\fR 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 \fBtabooext\fR directive.

.TP
\fBmail \fIaddress\fR
When a log is rotated out of existence, it is mailed to \fIaddress\fR. If
no mail should be generated by a particular log, the \fBnomail\fR directive
may be used.

.TP
\fBmailfirst\fR
When using the \fBmail\fR command, mail the just-rotated file,
instead of the about-to-expire file.

.TP
\fBmaillast\fR
When using the \fBmail\fR command, mail the about-to-expire file,
instead of the just-rotated file (this is the default).

.TP
\fBminage\fR \fIcount\fR
Do not rotate logs which are less than <count> days old.

.TP
\fBmaxage\fR \fIcount\fR
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 \fBmaillast\fR and \fBmail\fR are configured.

.TP
\fBmaxsize\fR \fIsize\fR
Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than \fIsize\fR bytes even
before the additionally specified time interval (\fBdaily\fR, \fBweekly\fR,
\fBmonthly\fR, or \fByearly\fR).  The related \fBsize\fR 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 \fBmaxsize\fR is used, both the size and timestamp of a log file are
considered.

.TP
\fBminsize\fR  \fIsize\fR
Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than \fIsize\fR bytes, but not
before the additionally specified time interval (\fBdaily\fR, \fBweekly\fR,
\fBmonthly\fR, or \fByearly\fR).  The related \fBsize\fR 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 \fBminsize\fR is used, both the size and timestamp of a log file are
considered.

.TP
\fBmissingok\fR
If the log file is missing, go on to the next one without issuing an error
message. See also \fBnomissingok\fR.

.TP
\fBmonthly\fR
Log files are rotated the first time \fBlogrotate\fR is run in a month
(this is normally on the first day of the month).

.TP
\fBnocompress\fR
Old versions of log files are not compressed. See also \fBcompress\fR.

.TP
\fBnocopy\fR
Do not copy the original log file and leave it in place.
(this overrides the \fBcopy\fR option).

.TP
\fBnocopytruncate\fR
Do not truncate the original log file in place after creating a copy
(this overrides the \fBcopytruncate\fR option).

.TP
\fBnocreate\fR
New log files are not created (this overrides the \fBcreate\fR option).

.TP
\fBnocreateolddir\fR
\fBolddir\fR directory is not created by logrotate when it does not exist.

.TP
\fBnodelaycompress\fR
Do not postpone compression of the previous log file to the next rotation cycle
(this overrides the \fBdelaycompress\fR option).

.TP
\fBnodateext\fR
Do not archive  old versions of log files with date extension
(this overrides the \fBdateext\fR option).

.TP
\fBnomail\fR
Do not mail old log files to any address.

.TP
\fBnomissingok\fR
If a log file does not exist, issue an error. This is the default.

.TP
\fBnoolddir\fR
Logs are rotated in the directory they normally reside in (this 
overrides the \fBolddir\fR option).

.TP
\fBnosharedscripts\fR
Run \fBprerotate\fR and \fBpostrotate\fR scripts for every log file which
is rotated (this is the default, and overrides the \fBsharedscripts\fR
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.

.TP
\fBnoshred\fR
Do not use \fBshred\fR when deleting old log files. See also \fBshred\fR. 

.TP
\fBnotifempty\fR
Do not rotate the log if it is empty (this overrides the \fBifempty\fR option).

.TP
\fBolddir \fIdirectory\fR
Logs are moved into \fIdirectory\fR for rotation. The \fIdirectory\fR must be
on the same physical device as the log file being rotated, unless \fBcopy\fR,
\fBcopytruncate\fR or \fBrenamecopy\fR option is used. The \fIdirectory\fR
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 \fIdirectory\fR.  This option may be
overridden by the \fBnoolddir\fR option.

.TP
\fBpostrotate\fR/\fBendscript\fR
The lines between \fBpostrotate\fR and \fBendscript\fR (both of which
must appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using \fB/bin/sh\fR) 
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 \fBsharedscripts\fR is specified, 
whole pattern is passed to the script.
See also \fBprerotate\fR. See \fBsharedscripts\fR and \fBnosharedscripts\fR
for error handling.

.TP
\fBprerotate\fR/\fBendscript\fR
The lines between \fBprerotate\fR and \fBendscript\fR (both of which
must appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using \fB/bin/sh\fR) 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  \fBsharedscripts\fR is specified, whole pattern is passed to the script.
See also \fBpostrotate\fR.
See \fBsharedscripts\fR and \fBnosharedscripts\fR for error handling.

.TP
\fBfirstaction\fR/\fBendscript\fR
The lines between \fBfirstaction\fR and \fBendscript\fR (both of which
must appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using \fB/bin/sh\fR) 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 \fBlastaction\fR.

.TP
\fBlastaction\fR/\fBendscript\fR
The lines between \fBlastaction\fR and \fBendscript\fR (both of which
must appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using \fB/bin/sh\fR) 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 \fBfirstaction\fR.

.TP
\fBpreremove\fR/\fBendscript\fR
The lines between \fBpreremove\fR and \fBendscript\fR (both of which must
appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using \fB/bin/sh\fR) once just
before removal of a log file.  The logrotate will pass
the name of file which is soon to be removed. See also \fBfirstaction\fR.

.TP
\fBrotate \fIcount\fR
Log files are rotated \fIcount\fR times before being removed or mailed to the
address specified in a \fBmail\fR directive. If \fIcount\fR is 0, old versions
are removed rather than rotated. Default is 0.

.TP
\fBrenamecopy\fR
Log file is renamed to temporary filename in the same directory by adding
".tmp" extension to it. After that, \fBpostrotate\fR script is run
and log file is copied from temporary filename to final filename. This allows
storing rotated log files on the different devices using \fBolddir\fR
directive. In the end, temporary filename is removed.

.TP
\fBsize \fIsize\fR
Log files are rotated only if they grow bigger than \fIsize\fR bytes. If
\fIsize\fR is followed by \fIk\fR, the size is assumed to be in kilobytes.
If the \fIM\fR is used, the size is in megabytes, and if \fIG\fR is used, the
size is in gigabytes. So \fIsize 100\fR, \fIsize 100k\fR, \fIsize 100M\fR and
\fIsize 100G\fR are all valid.

.TP
\fBsharedscripts\fR
Normally, \fBprerotate\fR and \fBpostrotate\fR 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 
\fI/var/log/news/*\fR example). If \fBsharedscripts\fR 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
\fBnosharedscripts\fR option and implies \fBcreate\fR option.

.TP
\fBshred\fR
Delete log files using \fBshred\fR \-u instead of unlink().  This should
ensure that logs are not readable after their scheduled deletion; this is
off by default.  See also \fBnoshred\fR.

.TP
\fBshredcycles\fR \fIcount\fR
Asks GNU \fBshred\fR(1) to overwrite log files \fBcount\fR times before 
deletion.  Without this option, \fBshred\fR's default will be used.

.TP
\fBstart \fIcount\fR
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 \fBrotate\fR directive.

.TP
\fBsu \fIuser\fR \fIgroup\fR
Rotate log files set under this user and group instead of using default
user/group (usually root). \fIuser\fR specifies the user name used for
rotation and \fIgroup\fR specifies the group used for rotation. If the
user/group you specify here does not have sufficient privilege to make 
files with the ownership you've specified in a \fIcreate\fR instruction, 
it will cause an error.

.TP
\fBtabooext\fR [+] \fIlist\fR
The current taboo extension list is changed (see the \fBinclude\fR 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\-*

.TP
\fBweekly\fR
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 \fIlogrotate\fR is not run every
night.

.TP
\fByearly\fR
Log files are rotated if the current year is not the same as the last rotation.

.SH FILES
.PD 0
.TP 27
\fI/var/lib/logrotate.status\fR
Default state file.
.TP 27
\fI/etc/logrotate.conf\fR
Configuration options.

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR gzip (1)

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

.SH AUTHORS
.nf
Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.

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

.fi