1 .\" This file was split from the newsyslog(8) manual page by Tom Rhodes
2 .\" and includes modifications as appropriate.
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5 .\" This file contains changes from the Open Software Foundation.
7 .\" from: @(#)newsyslog.8
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35 file is used to set log file rotation configuration for the
38 Configuration may designate that logs are rotated based on
39 size, last rotation time, or time of day.
42 file can also be used to designate secure permissions to log
43 files at rotation time.
44 During initialization,
46 reads a configuration file,
48 .Pa /etc/newsyslog.conf ,
49 to determine which logs may potentially be rotated and archived.
50 Each line has five mandatory fields and four optional fields,
51 separated with whitespace.
52 Blank lines or lines beginning with
57 is placed in the middle of the line, the
59 character and the rest of the line after it is ignored.
60 To prevent special meaning, the
62 character may be escaped with
64 in this case preceding
68 is treated as an ordinary character.
69 The fields of the configuration file are as follows:
70 .Bl -tag -width indent
72 Name of the system log file to be archived,
73 or one of the literal strings
77 The special default entry will only be used if a log file
78 name is given as a command line argument to
80 and if that log file name is not matched by any other
81 line in the configuration file.
82 The include entry is used to include other configuration
83 files and supports globbing.
84 .It Ar owner : Ns Ar group
85 This optional field specifies the owner and group for the archive file.
88 is essential regardless if the
92 field is left blank or contains a value.
93 The field may be numeric, or a name which is present in
98 Specify the file mode of the log file and archives.
101 (That is, read and write permissions for the rotated log may be specified for
102 the owner, group, and others.)
103 All other mode bits are ignored.
105 Specify the maximum number of archive files which may exist.
106 This does not consider the current log file.
108 When the size of the log file reaches
110 in kilobytes, the log file will be trimmed as described above.
111 If this field contains an asterisk
113 the log file will not be trimmed based on size.
117 field may consist of an interval, a specific time, or both.
120 field contains an asterisk
122 log rotation will solely depend on the contents of the
127 field consists of an optional interval in hours, usually followed
129 .So Li \&@ Sc Ns No -sign
130 and a time in restricted
133 Additionally, the format may also be constructed with a
135 sign along with a rotation time specification of once
136 a day, once a week, or once a month.
138 Time based trimming happens only if
140 is run within one hour of the specified time.
141 If an interval is specified, the log file will be trimmed if that many
142 hours have passed since the last rotation.
143 When both a time and an interval are
144 specified then both conditions must be satisfied for the rotation to
147 There is no provision for the specification of a timezone.
148 There is little point in specifying an explicit minutes or
149 seconds component in the current implementation, since the only comparison is
150 .Dq within the hour .
152 .Sy ISO 8601 restricted time format :
154 The lead-in character for a restricted
159 The particular format of the time in restricted
175 Optional date fields default to the appropriate component of the
176 current date; optional time fields default to midnight; hence if today
177 is January 22, 1999, the following date specifications are all
180 .Bl -item -compact -offset indent
182 .Sq Li 19990122T000000
203 .Sy Day, week, and month time format:
205 The lead-in character for day, week, and month specification is a
208 The particular format of day, week, and month specification is:
210 .Op Li W Ns Va w Ns Op Li D Ns Va hh ,
212 .Op Li M Ns Va dd Ns Op Li D Ns Va hh ,
214 Optional time fields default to midnight.
215 The ranges for day and hour specifications are:
217 .Bl -tag -width indent -offset indent -compact
221 day of week, range 0..6, 0 = Sunday
223 day of month, range 1..31, or one of the letters
227 to specify the last day of the month.
232 .Bl -tag -width indent -offset indent -compact
234 rotate every night at midnight
238 rotate every day at 23:00
242 rotate every week on Sunday at 23:00
244 rotate every week on Friday at 16:00
246 rotate at the first day of every month at midnight
247 (i.e., the start of the day; same as
250 rotate on every fifth day of month at 6:00
255 This optional field is made up of one or more characters
256 that specify any special processing to be done for the log
257 files matched by this line.
258 The following are valid flags:
259 .Bl -tag -width indent
261 indicates that the log file is a binary file, or has some
267 message into a log file during rotation.
268 This message is used to indicate
269 when, and sometimes why the log file was rotated.
272 is specified, then that informational message will not be
273 inserted into the log file.
275 indicates that the log file should be created if it does not
276 already exist, and if the
278 option was also specified on the command line.
284 flag when creating a new version of
286 This option would affect how the
288 command treats the log file when making a file system backup.
290 indicates that the specified
292 is a shell pattern, and that
294 should archive all filenames matching that pattern using the
295 other options on this line.
298 for details on syntax and matching rules.
302 should attempt to save disk space by compressing the rotated
306 indicates that there is no process which needs to be signaled
307 when this log file is rotated.
309 indicates that the zero-th rotated file should not be compressed.
311 if this flag is set the
313 will run shell command defined in
314 .Ar path_to_pid_cmd_file
315 after rotation instead of trying to send signal to a process id
318 if this flag is set the informational rotation message written to
319 the log file will be in the format specified by RFC5424.
320 Normally, the rotation message is written in the traditional (RFC3164)
323 indicates that the file specified by
324 .Ar path_to_pid_cmd_file
325 will contain the ID for a process group instead of a process.
326 This option also requires that the first line in that file
327 be a negative value to distinguish it from a process ID.
331 should attempt to save disk space by compressing the rotated
337 should attempt to save disk space by compressing the rotated
343 should attempt to save disk space by compressing the rotated
347 a minus sign will not cause any special processing, but it
348 can be used as a placeholder to create a
350 field when you need to specify any of the following fields.
352 .It Ar path_to_pid_cmd_file
353 This optional field specifies the file name containing a daemon's
354 process ID or to find a group process ID if the
357 If this field is present, a
359 is sent to the process ID contained in this file.
360 If this field is not present and the
362 flag has not been specified, then a
364 signal will be sent to
366 or to the process id found in the file specified by
367 .Xr newsyslog 8 Ns 's
370 This field must start with
372 in order to be recognized properly.
375 flag, the file is treated as a path to a binary to be executed
378 after rotation instead of sending the signal out.
380 This optional field specifies the signal that will be sent to the daemon
381 process (or to all processes in a process group, if the
384 If this field is not present, then a
390 and be the signal name, e.g.,
394 can be the signal number, e.g., 30 for
398 The following is an example of the
401 .Dl "<include> /etc/newsyslog-local.conf"
413 .%T The BSD syslog Protocol
418 .%T The Syslog Protocol
422 This manual page first appeared in