logrotate

logrotate

The logrotate command in Linux is used to rotate, compress, and archive system logs. It is a powerful tool that can be used to manage log files and to ensure that they are not taking up too much space on the system.

The syntax for the logrotate command is as follows:

logrotate [options] logfile

The logfile argument is the file that you want to rotate.

The options argument can be used to control the behavior of the logrotate command.

Here are some of the most useful logrotate options:

  • -s: Specify the size of the log file before it is rotated.

  • -c: Create a new log file with the same name as the old log file.

  • -f: Force rotation, even if the log file is not yet the specified size.

  • -m: Mail the rotated log file to the specified address.

Here is an example of how to rotate the log file syslog every 100MB:

logrotate -s 100M syslog

This command will rotate the log file syslog every 100MB. The old log file will be renamed with the extension .1, and the new log file will be created with the original name.

Here is an example of how to rotate the log file syslog and mail the rotated log file to the address root@localhost:

logrotate -s 100M -f -m root@localhost syslog

This command will rotate the log file syslog every 100MB. The old log file will be renamed with the extension .1, and the new log file will be created with the original name. The rotated log file will be mailed to the address root@localhost.

The logrotate command is a valuable tool for managing system logs. It can be used to ensure that log files are not taking up too much space on the system, and that they are rotated and archived in a consistent manner.

Here are some of the benefits of using the logrotate command:

  • It can be used to manage system logs.

  • It can be used to ensure that log files are not taking up too much space on the system.

  • It can be used to rotate and archive log files in a consistent manner.

  • It can be used to mail rotated log files to administrators.

If you are managing a system with a lot of log files, you should make sure to learn how to use the logrotate command. It is a valuable tool for managing log files and for ensuring that they are not taking up too much space on the system.

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