ROTATE_LOG

Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
Updated: 89/12/11
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NAME

rotate_log - rotate logfiles, removing the oldest  

SYNOPSIS

rotate_log log [ -L log_dir ] [ -n n ] [ -c ] [ -B backup_dir ] [ -b backup_name ] [ -m mode ] [ -o owner ] [ -g group ] [ -M mode ] [ -O owner ] [ -G group ] [ -e "prolog_command" ] [ -E "postlog_command" ] logfile  

DESCRIPTION

Rotate_log takes a lot of the drudgery out of managing logfiles. It assume you have a log file logfile and a series of backup copies logfile.0, logfile.1, etc, where 0 is the newest backup and N is the oldest. Rotate_log will remove the oldest, rename the rest, and empty out the original logfile. It has lots of options to let you control things:
-L log_dir
Assume the logfile is in a directory named log_dir.
-n n
Use n backups. If you don't set this, it defaults to three.
-c
Compress(1) the backup copies.
-B backup_dir
Put the backed up log copies in the directory backup_dir.
-b backup_name
Name the backed up log copies backup_name. Note you can use both the -B and -b switches at the same time.
-m mode
Set the mode (permissions) on logfile to mode.
-o owner
Set the ownership of logfile to owner (this option is only available to root ).
-g group
Set the group membership of logfile to group (this option is only available to root ).
-M mode
Set the mode (permissions) on logfile.0 to mode.
-O owner
Set the ownership of logfile.0 to owner (this option is only available to root ).
-O group
Set the group membership of logfile.0 to group (this option is only available to root ).
-e prolog_command
prolog_command is a command to be executed just before moving logfile to logfile.0. Note that if prolog_command has spaces, blanks, or metacharacters they must be quoted.
-E postlog_command
prolog_command is a command to be executed immediately after emptying logfile Note it is only executed if logfile is successfully emptied. Note also that if prolog_command has spaces, blanks, or metacharacters they must be quoted.

Note that the mode and ownership settings apply only the the newly created backups. It is assumed that all older backups are already set as desired.  

ERROR MESSAGES

Hopefully self-explaining. This command bends over backwards checking for permission before trying things, and tries very hard to be informative when something isn't right.  

FILES

None.  

AUTHOR

Steve Simmons  

COPYRIGHT STATUS

Copyright 1989 Steve Simmons (scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us). Freely redistributable provided this copyright remains intact.  

BUGS

Please report them to the author, scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us.


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
ERROR MESSAGES
FILES
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT STATUS
BUGS

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Time: 19:01:31 GMT, February 02, 2023