logrotate ‐ rotates, compresses, and mails system logs
logrotate [
--debug] [
--verbose] [
--log
file] [
--force] [
--state file] [
--mail
command]
config_file [
config_file2 ...]
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.
- -?, --help
- Prints help message.
- -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.
- -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.
- -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.
- -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, for example to display messages during rotation.
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 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 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
#.
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 before
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/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 recipient@example.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 next 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.
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:
These directives 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 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 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, 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.
- 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
disabled using the nocreateolddir 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 %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 (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 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.
- datehourago
- Use hour ago instead of current date to create the dateext
extension, so that the rotated log file has a hour in its name that is the
same as the timestamps within it. Useful with rotate hourly.
- 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.
- 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 rotate logs hourly.
- 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
compression is used, the compression extension (normally .gz)
appears after ext.
- 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 or patterns, as
specified by the tabooext or taboopat directives,
respectively.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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).
- nocreateolddir
- olddir directory is not created by logrotate when it does not
exist.
- 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, unless
copy, copytruncate or renamecopy option is used. The
directory 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.
- 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. Default is 0.
- 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 different devices using
olddir directive. In the end, temporary filename is removed.
- 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
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 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 rotation. If the
user/group you specify here does not have sufficient privilege to make
files with the ownership you've specified 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 + precedes 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, .rpmorig, .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.
- weekly [weekday]
- Log files are rotated once each weekday, or if the date is advanced
by at least 7 days since the last rotation (while ignoring 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.
- yearly
- Log files are rotated if the current year is not the same as the last
rotation.
| /var/lib/logrotate/status |
Default state file. |
|
| /etc/logrotate.conf |
Configuration options. |
|
chmod(2),
gunzip(1),
gzip(1),
mail(1),
shred(1),
strftime(3),
strtoul(3),
<https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>
Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.
<https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>