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 num‐
       bers 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 copy‐
       right 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 logro‐
              tate 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 out‐
              put 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 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 logro‐
              tate 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 con‐
       figuration 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
       }

       ~/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  =.   Num‐
       bers 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 /sbin/killall -HUP syslogd  will  be  exe‐
       cuted.

       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 com‐
       pressed), 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 spa‐
       ces).  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 com‐
       pressed.

       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  old‐
       dir 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(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  com‐
              mand.

       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  compres‐
              sion  at  the expense of speed).  If you use a different compression com‐
              mand, 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  log‐
              file 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 speci‐
              fies  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 cre‐
              ated. 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  strf‐
              time(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 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 compres‐
              sion  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  config‐
              ured  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 origi‐
              nal  file  already  ends  with  ext, the extension is not duplicated, but
              merely moved to the end, i.e. both filename  and  filenameext  would  get
              rotated  to filename.1ext. If compression is used, the compression exten‐
              sion (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  mutu‐
              ally 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 over‐
              rides 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 abso‐
              lute 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, copy‐
              truncate 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   shared‐
              scripts  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 pat‐
              tern  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  firstac‐
              tion.

       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  giga‐
              bytes. 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 contains .rpmsave,
              .rpmorig,  ~,  .disabled,  .dpkg-old,  .dpkg-dist,  .dpkg-new,  .cfsaved,
              .ucf-old, .ucf-dist, .ucf-new, .rpmnew, .swp, .cfsaved, .rhn-cfg-tmp-*

       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, other‐
              wise it is replaced. At startup, the taboo pattern list is empty.

       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 rota‐
              tion. 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)

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

AUTHORS
       Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.

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

Linux                                Wed Nov 5 2002                        LOGROTATE(8)

Használat: logrotate [OPTION...] <configfile>
  -d, --debug               Don't do anything, just test (implies -v)
  -f, --force               Force file rotation
  -m, --mail=command        Command to send mail (instead of `/usr/bin/mail')
  -s, --state=statefile     Path of state file
  -v, --verbose             Display messages during rotation
  -l, --log=SZÖVEG         Log file or 'syslog' to log to syslog
      --version             Display version information

Help options:
  -?, --help                Show this help message
      --usage               Display brief usage message