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

NAME
logrotate - rotates, compresses, and mails system logs

SYNOPSIS
logrotate [-dv] [-f|--force] [-s|--state file] config_file ..

DESCRIPTION
logrotate is designed to ease administration of systems that generate large numbers of log files. It allows automatic
rotation, compression, removal, and mailing of log files. Each log file may be handled daily, weekly, monthly, or when
it grows too large.

Normally, logrotate is run as a daily cron job. It will not modify a log multiple times in one day unless the criterium
for that log is based on the log's size and logrotate is being run multiple times each day, or unless the -f or -force
option is used.

Any number of config files may be given on the command line. Later 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
-d 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 /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.

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 def-
initions 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 wwwATmy.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 files defined how to handle the log file /var/log/messages. The log will go through five
weekly rotations before being removed. After the log file has been rotated (but before the old version of the log has
been compressed), the command /sbin/killall -HUP syslogd will be executed.

The next section defines the parameters for both /var/log/httpd/access.log and /var/log/httpd/error.log. They are
rotated whenever it grows over 100k in size, and the old logs files are mailed (uncompressed) to wwwATmy.org after going
through 5 rotations, rather than being removed. The sharedscripts means that the postrotate script will only be run once
(after the old logs have been compressed), not once for each log which is rotated. Note that the double quotes around the
first filename at the beginning of this section allows logrotate to rotate logs with spaces in the name. Normal shell
quoting rules apply, with ', ", and \ characters supported.

The 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 com-
pressed.

Please use wildcards with caution. If you specify *, logrotate will rotate all files, including previously rotated ones.
A way around this is to use the olddir directive or a more exact wildcard (such as *.log).

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

compress
Old versions of log files are compressed with gzip(1) by default. See also nocompress.

compresscmd
Specifies which command to use to compress log files. The default is gzip. See also compress.

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

compressext
Specifies which extension to use on compressed logfiles, if compression 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
"-9" (maximum compression).

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 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 spec-
ifies 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 option.

dateformat format_string
Specify the extension for dateext using the notation similar to strftime(3) function. Only %Y %m %d and %s speci-
fiers are allowed. The default value is -%Y%m%d. Note that also the character separating log name from the exten-
sion 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.

delaycompress
Postpone compression of the previous log file to the next rotation cycle. This only has effect when used in com-
bination with compress. It can be used when some program cannot be told to close its logfile and thus might con-
tinue 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 direc-
tory 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.

minsize size
Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than size bytes, but not before the additionally specified time inter-
val (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 Don't mail old log files to any address.

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

noolddir
Logs are rotated in the same directory the log normally resides in (this overrides the olddir option).

nosharedscripts
Run prerotate and postrotate scripts for every log file which is rotated (this is the default, and overrides the
sharedscripts option). The absolute path to the log file is passed as first argument to the script. If the scripts
exit with error, the remaining actions will not be executed for the affected log only.

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

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

olddir directory
Logs are moved into directory for rotation. The directory must be on the same physical device as the log file
being rotated, and is assumed to be relative to the directory holding the log file unless an absolute path name is
specified. When this option is used all old versions of the log end up in directory. This option may be overrid-
den 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 defini-
tion. Whole pattern is passed to the script as first argument. If the script exits with error, no further process-
ing 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 pat-
tern 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 when they grow bigger than 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 100Gare 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 count directive.

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.