compress
Old versions of log files are compressed with gzip by default.
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 com-
pression 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, is “-9” (maximum com-
pression).
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 pare 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 can not 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 log-
ging 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 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.
daily Log files are rotated every day.
delaycompress
Postpone compression of the previous log file to the next rota-
tion cycle. This has only effect when used in combination with
compress. It can be used when some program can not be told to
close its logfile and thus might continue writing to the previ-
ous log file for some time.
extension ext
Log files are given the final extension ext after rotation. If
compression is used, the compression extension (normally .gz)
appears after ext.
ifempty
Rotate the log file even if it is empty, overiding 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, as specified by the tabooext
directive. The include directive may not appear inside of a log
file definition.
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).
missingok
If the log file is missing, go on to the next one without issu-
ing 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 with gzip. 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).
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 script which is
rotated (this is the default, and overrides the sharedscripts
option).
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 overriden by the noolddir option.
postrotate/endscript
The lines between postrotate and endscript (both of which must
appear on lines by themselves) are executed after the log file
is rotated. These directives may only appear inside of a log
file definition. See prerotate as well.
prerotate/endscript
The lines between prerotate and endscript (both of which must
appear on lines by themselves) are executed before the log file
is rotated and only if the log will actually be rotated. These
directives may only appear inside of a log file definition. See
postrotate as well.
firstaction/endscript
The lines between firstaction and endscript (both of which must
appear on lines by themselves) are executed once before all log
files that match the wildcarded pattern are rotated, before pre-
rotate script is run and only if at least one log will actually
be rotated. These directives may only appear inside of a log
file definition. See lastaction as well.
lastaction/endscript
The lines between lastaction and endscript (both of which must
appear on lines by themselves) are executed 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 of a log file
definition. See lastaction as well.
rotate count
Log files are rotated
mailed to the address specified in a mail directive. If count is
0, old versions are removed rather then rotated.
size size
Log files are rotated when they grow bigger then size bytes. If
size is followed by M, the size if assumed to be in megabytes.
If the k is used, the size is in kilobytes. So size 100, size
100k, and size 100M are all valid.
sharedscripts
Normally, prescript and postscript scripts are run for each log
which is rotated, meaning that a single script may be run multi-
ple times for log file entries which match multiple files (such
as the /var/log/news/* example). If sharedscript is specified,
the scripts are only run once, no matter how many logs match the
wildcarded pattern. However, if none of the logs in the pattern
require rotating, the scripts will not be run at all. This
option overrides the nosharedscripts option and implies create
option.
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 + pre-
cedes the list of extensions, the current taboo extension list
is augmented, otherwise it is replaced. At startup, the taboo
extension list contains .rpmorig, .rpmsave, ,v, .swp, .rpmnew,
and ~.
weekly Log files are rotated if the current weekday is less then the
weekday of the last rotation or if more then 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 logro-
tate is not run every night.