ROTATELOGS2(8) rotatelogs ROTATELOGS2(8)NAMErotatelogs2 - Piped logging program to rotate Apache logs
SYNOPSISrotatelogs2 [ -l ] [ -f ] logfile rotationtime|filesizeM [ offset ]
SUMMARYrotatelogs2 is a simple program for use in conjunction with Apache's
piped logfile feature. It supports rotation based on a time interval or
maximum size of the log.
OPTIONS-l Causes the use of local time rather than GMT as the base for the
interval or for strftime(3) formatting with size-based rotation.
Note that using -l in an environment which changes the GMT off-
set (such as for BST or DST) can lead to unpredictable results!
-f Causes the logfile to be opened immediately, as soon as rotatel-
ogs2 starts, instead of waiting for the first logfile entry to
be read (for non-busy sites, there may be a substantial delay
between when the server is started and when the first request is
handled, meaning that the associated logfile does not "exist"
until then, which causes problems from some automated logging
tools). Available in version 2.2.9 and later.
logfile
The path plus basename of the logfile. If logfile includes any
'%' characters, it is treated as a format string for strf-
time(3). Otherwise, the suffix .nnnnnnnnnn is automatically
added and is the time in seconds. Both formats compute the start
time from the beginning of the current period. For example, if a
rotation time of 86400 is specified, the hour, minute, and sec-
ond fields created from the strftime(3) format will all be zero,
referring to the beginning of the current 24-hour period (mid-
night).
rotationtime
The time between log file rotations in seconds. The rotation
occurs at the beginning of this interval. For example, if the
rotation time is 3600, the log file will be rotated at the
beginning of every hour; if the rotation time is 86400, the log
file will be rotated every night at midnight. (If no data is
logged during an interval, no file will be created.)
filesizeM
The maximum file size in megabytes followed by the letter M to
specify size rather than time.
offset The number of minutes offset from UTC. If omitted, zero is
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assumed and UTC is used. For example, to use local time in the
zone UTC -5 hours, specify a value of -300 for this argument. In
most cases, -l should be used instead of specifying an offset.
EXAMPLES
CustomLog "|bin/rotatelogs2 /var/logs/logfile 86400" common
This creates the files /var/logs/logfile.nnnn where nnnn is the system
time at which the log nominally starts (this time will always be a mul-
tiple of the rotation time, so you can synchronize cron scripts with
it). At the end of each rotation time (here after 24 hours) a new log
is started.
CustomLog "|bin/rotatelogs2 -l /var/logs/logfile.%Y.%m.%d 86400" common
This creates the files /var/logs/logfile.yyyy.mm.dd where yyyy is the
year, mm is the month, and dd is the day of the month. Logging will
switch to a new file every day at midnight, local time.
CustomLog "|bin/rotatelogs2 /var/logs/logfile 5M" common
This configuration will rotate the logfile whenever it reaches a size
of 5 megabytes.
ErrorLog "|bin/rotatelogs2 /var/logs/errorlog.%Y-%m-%d-%H_%M_%S 5M"
This configuration will rotate the error logfile whenever it reaches a
size of 5 megabytes, and the suffix to the logfile name will be created
of the form errorlog.YYYY-mm-dd-HH_MM_SS.
PORTABILITY
The following logfile format string substitutions should be supported
by all strftime(3) implementations, see the strftime(3) man page for
library-specific extensions.
o %A - full weekday name (localized)
o %a - 3-character weekday name (localized)
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o %B - full month name (localized)
o %b - 3-character month name (localized)
o %c - date and time (localized)
o %d - 2-digit day of month
o %H - 2-digit hour (24 hour clock)
o %I - 2-digit hour (12 hour clock)
o %j - 3-digit day of year
o %M - 2-digit minute
o %m - 2-digit month
o %p - am/pm of 12 hour clock (localized)
o %S - 2-digit second
o %U - 2-digit week of year (Sunday first day of week)
o %W - 2-digit week of year (Monday first day of week)
o %w - 1-digit weekday (Sunday first day of week)
o %X - time (localized)
o %x - date (localized)
o %Y - 4-digit year
o %y - 2-digit year
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o %Z - time zone name
o %% - literal `%'
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