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. Global
options do not affect preceding include directives. 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
sharedscripts
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 100 kilobytes 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.
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:
