LOGROTATE(8) System Administrator's Manual LOGROTATE(8)
NAME
logrotate ‐ rotates, compresses, and mails system logs
SYNOPSIS
logrotate [--debug] [--verbose] [--log file] [--force] [--state file] [--mail
command] config_file [config_file2 ...]
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 be‐
low 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
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 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 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 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, for example to 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 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 af‐
ter 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 /usr/bin/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 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 sup‐
ported.
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:
DIRECTIVES
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 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 at‐
tributes 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 at‐
tributes. 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 di‐
rectory, 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 al‐
lowed. 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 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, that is 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 ad‐
dress 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 be‐
fore 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 er‐
ror 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 op‐
tion.
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 er‐
ror 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 re‐
moval 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 op‐
tion 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 ro‐
tated 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 er‐
ror.
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 ex‐
tensions, 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, other‐
wise 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, irrespec‐
tively 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 ro‐
tation.
FILES
/var/lib/logrotate/status Default state file.
/etc/logrotate.conf Configuration options.
SEE ALSO
chmod(2), gunzip(1), gzip(1), mail(1), shred(1), strftime(3), strtoul(3),
<https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>
AUTHORS
Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Jan Kaluza.
<https://github.com/logrotate/logrotate>
Linux 3.14.0 LOGROTATE(8)