Annotation of src/usr.bin/newsyslog/newsyslog.8, Revision 1.40
1.40 ! jmc 1: .\" $OpenBSD: newsyslog.8,v 1.39 2005/03/02 15:42:08 jmc Exp $
1.4 downsj 2: .\"
3: .\" Copyright (c) 1997, Jason Downs. All rights reserved.
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6: .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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14: .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR(S) ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS
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1.1 deraadt 26: .\" This file contains changes from the Open Software Foundation.
27: .\"
28: .\" from: @(#)newsyslog.8
29: .\"
30: .\" Copyright 1988, 1989 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1.13 aaron 31: .\"
1.1 deraadt 32: .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software
33: .\" and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is
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39: .\" of the software without specific, written prior permission.
40: .\" M.I.T. and the M.I.T. S.I.P.B. make no representations about
41: .\" the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is
42: .\" provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
43: .\"
1.31 millert 44: .Dd January 24, 2003
1.4 downsj 45: .Dt NEWSYSLOG 8
1.12 aaron 46: .Os
1.4 downsj 47: .Sh NAME
48: .Nm newsyslog
1.34 millert 49: .Nd trim log files to manageable sizes
1.4 downsj 50: .Sh SYNOPSIS
1.10 aaron 51: .Nm newsyslog
1.27 millert 52: .Op Fl Fmnrv
1.26 millert 53: .Op Fl a Ar directory
1.20 aaron 54: .Op Fl f Ar config_file
1.28 millert 55: .Op Ar log ...
1.4 downsj 56: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.13 aaron 57: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 58: is a program that should be scheduled to run periodically by
1.4 downsj 59: .Xr cron 8 .
1.18 aaron 60: When it is executed it archives log files if necessary.
61: If a log file is determined to require archiving,
1.13 aaron 62: .Nm
63: rearranges the files so that
64: .Pa logfile
65: is empty,
66: .Pa logfile.0
67: has
68: the last period's logs in it,
69: .Pa logfile.1
70: has the next to last
1.1 deraadt 71: period's logs in it, and so on, up to a user-specified number of
1.18 aaron 72: archived logs.
1.33 millert 73: The archived logs may be optionally compressed to save space.
1.4 downsj 74: .Pp
1.18 aaron 75: The options are as follows:
76: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.40 ! jmc 77: .It Fl a Ar directory
! 78: Specify a
! 79: .Ar directory
! 80: into which archived log files will be written.
! 81: If
! 82: .Ar directory
! 83: is a relative path, it is appended to the parent directory
! 84: of each log and the archived log is stored in the result.
! 85: If an absolute path is given, all archived logs are stored in the given
! 86: .Ar directory .
! 87: If
! 88: .Ar directory
! 89: does not exist for a specified log, it is ignored for that entry and
! 90: the log is rotated as if the
! 91: .Fl a
! 92: option was not specified.
1.27 millert 93: .It Fl F
94: Force
95: .Nm
96: to trim logs regardless of the size and/or age requirements specified in
97: .Pa /etc/newsyslog.conf .
98: This option may be combined with the
99: .Fl n
100: or
101: .Fl v
102: flags to aid in debugging problems with
103: .Pa /etc/newsyslog.conf .
1.40 ! jmc 104: .It Fl f Ar config_file
! 105: Use
! 106: .Ar config_file
! 107: instead of
! 108: .Pa /etc/newsyslog.conf
! 109: for the configuration file.
1.20 aaron 110: .It Fl m
111: Monitoring mode; only entries marked with an
112: .Sq M
1.31 millert 113: in flags are processed.
1.36 jmc 114: For each log file being monitored, any log output since the last time
1.31 millert 115: .Nm
116: was run with the
117: .Fl m
118: flag is mailed to the user listed in the monitor notification section.
1.18 aaron 119: .It Fl n
120: Do not trim the logs, but instead print out what would be done if this option
121: were not specified.
122: .It Fl r
123: Removes the restriction that
124: .Nm
125: must be running as root.
1.34 millert 126: Note that in this mode
1.18 aaron 127: .Nm
128: will not be able to send a
129: .Dv SIGHUP
130: signal to
1.34 millert 131: .Xr syslogd 8 .
1.20 aaron 132: .It Fl v
1.33 millert 133: Place
134: .Nm newsyslog
135: in verbose mode.
1.20 aaron 136: In this mode it will print out each log and its
137: reasons for either trimming that log or skipping it.
1.18 aaron 138: .El
1.28 millert 139: .Pp
140: If one or more
141: .Ar log
142: files are specified on the command line, only the specified logs will
143: be rotated.
144: Note that each
145: .Ar log
146: specified must have an entry in
147: .Pa /etc/newsyslog.conf .
1.18 aaron 148: .Pp
1.32 jmc 149: A log can be archived because of two reasons:
1.18 aaron 150: The log file can have
1.1 deraadt 151: grown bigger than a preset size in kilobytes, or a preset number of
1.18 aaron 152: hours may have elapsed since the last log archive.
153: The granularity of
1.13 aaron 154: .Nm
1.4 downsj 155: is dependent on how often it is scheduled to run in
156: .Xr cron 8 .
157: Since the program is quite fast, it may be scheduled to run every hour
1.1 deraadt 158: without any ill effects.
1.4 downsj 159: .Pp
1.13 aaron 160: When starting up,
161: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 162: reads in a configuration file to determine which logs should be looked
1.18 aaron 163: at.
164: By default, this configuration file is
1.4 downsj 165: .Pa /etc/newsyslog.conf .
1.1 deraadt 166: Each line of the file contains information about a particular log file
167: that should be handled by
1.4 downsj 168: .Nm newsyslog .
1.34 millert 169: Each line has five mandatory fields and up to three optional fields, with
1.18 aaron 170: whitespace separating each field.
171: Blank lines or lines beginning with a hash mark
172: .Pq Ql #
173: are ignored.
174: The fields of the configuration file are as
1.13 aaron 175: follows:
1.4 downsj 176: .Bl -tag -width XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
1.33 millert 177: .It Ar logfile_name
1.4 downsj 178: The full pathname of the system log file to be archived.
1.33 millert 179: .It Ar owner:group
180: This optional field specifies the owner and group for the archive file.
1.18 aaron 181: The
1.34 millert 182: .Ql \&:
1.13 aaron 183: is essential, even if the
1.4 downsj 184: .Ar owner
1.1 deraadt 185: or
1.4 downsj 186: .Ar group
1.18 aaron 187: field is left blank.
188: The fields may be numeric, or a name which is looked up
1.4 downsj 189: in the system password and group databases.
1.33 millert 190: For backwards compatibility, a
191: .Ql \&.
192: may be used instead of a
1.34 millert 193: .Ql \&: .
1.38 millert 194: If either
195: .Ar owner
196: or
197: .Ar group
198: is not specified, the owner and/or group of the existing log file is used.
1.33 millert 199: .It Ar mode
200: File mode (in octal) to use for created log files and archives.
201: .It Ar count
202: The number of archives to be kept besides the log file itself.
203: .It Ar size
1.24 millert 204: When the size of the log file (in kilobytes) reaches this point, the log
205: file is trimmed as described above.
1.33 millert 206: If this field is replaced by an
207: .Ql \&* ,
1.13 aaron 208: then the size of
1.4 downsj 209: the log file is not taken into account when determining when to trim the
210: log file.
1.25 millert 211: By default, files smaller than 512 bytes are not rotated unless the
1.24 millert 212: .Sq B
213: (binary) flag is set.
214: This prevents
215: .Nm
216: from rotating files consisting solely of a message indicating
217: that the log file has been turned over.
1.33 millert 218: .It Ar when
1.1 deraadt 219: The
1.33 millert 220: .Ar when
221: field can consist of an interval, a specific time, or both.
222: If the
223: .Ar when
224: field consists of an asterisk
225: .Pq Ql \&* ,
226: log rotation will depend only on the contents of the
227: .Ar size
228: field.
229: Otherwise, the
230: .Ar when
231: field consists of an optional interval in hours, possibly followed
232: by an
1.37 jmc 233: .So Li \&@ Sc Ns -sign
1.33 millert 234: and a time in a restricted
235: .Tn ISO 8601
236: format or by a
1.37 jmc 237: .So Li \&$ Sc Ns -sign
1.33 millert 238: and a time specification for logfile rotation at a fixed time once
239: per day, per week or per month.
240: .Pp
241: If a time is specified, the log file will only be trimmed if
242: .Nm
243: is run within one hour of the specified time.
244: If an interval is specified, the log file will be trimmed if that
245: many hours have passed since the last rotation.
246: When both a time and an interval are specified, both conditions
247: must be satisfied for the rotation to take place.
248: .Pp
249: There is no provision for the specification of a timezone.
250: There is little point in specifying an explicit minutes or seconds
251: component in the current implementation, since the only comparison is
252: .Sq within the hour .
1.39 jmc 253: .Pp
254: .Sy ISO 8601 restricted time format:
1.33 millert 255: The lead-in character for a restricted
256: .Tn ISO 8601
257: time is an
1.37 jmc 258: .So Li \&@ Sc Ns -sign .
1.33 millert 259: The particular format of the time in restricted
260: .Tn ISO 8601
261: is:
262: .Sm off
263: .Oo Oo Oo Oo Oo
264: .Va \&cc Oc
265: .Va \&yy Oc
266: .Va \&mm Oc
267: .Va \&dd Oc
268: .Oo Li \&T
269: .Oo Va \&hh
270: .Oo Va \&mm
271: .Oo Va \&ss
272: .Oc Oc Oc Oc Oc .
273: .Sm on
274: Optional date fields default to the appropriate component of the
275: current date; optional time fields default to midnight
276: For example, if today is January 22, 1999, the following date specifications
277: are all equivalent:
278: .Pp
279: .Bl -item -compact -offset indent
280: .It
281: .Ql 19990122T000000
282: .It
283: .Ql 990122T000000
284: .It
285: .Ql 0122T000000
286: .It
287: .Ql 22T000000
288: .It
289: .Ql T000000
290: .It
291: .Ql T0000
292: .It
293: .Ql T00
294: .It
295: .Ql 22T
296: .It
297: .Ql \&T
298: .It
299: .Ql \&
300: .El
1.39 jmc 301: .Pp
302: .Sy Day, week and month time format:
1.33 millert 303: The lead-in character for day, week and month specification is a
1.37 jmc 304: .So Li \&$ Sc Ns -sign .
1.33 millert 305: The particular format of day, week and month specification is:
306: .Op Va D\&hh ,
307: .Op Va W\&w Ns Op Va D\&hh
308: and
309: .Op Va M\&dd Ns Op Va D\&hh ,
310: respectively.
311: Optional time fields default to midnight.
312: The ranges for day and hour specifications are:
313: .Pp
314: .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact -offset indent
315: .It Ar hh
316: hours, range 0 ... 23
317: .It Ar w
318: day of week, range 0 ... 6, 0 = Sunday
319: .It Ar dd
320: day of month, range 1 ... 31, or the letter
321: .Em L
322: or
323: .Em l
324: to specify the last day of the month.
325: .El
1.39 jmc 326: .Pp
327: .Sy Some examples:
1.33 millert 328: .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact -offset indent
329: .It Ar $D0
330: rotate every night at midnight
331: (same as
332: .Ar @T00 )
333: .It Ar $D23
334: rotate every day at 23:00 hr
335: (same as
336: .Ar @T23 )
337: .It Ar $W0D23
338: rotate every week on Sunday at 23:00 hr
339: .It Ar $W5D16
340: rotate every week on Friday at 16:00 hr
341: .It Ar $M1D0
342: rotate on the first day of every month at midnight
343: (i.e., the start of the day; same as
344: .Ar @01T00 )
345: .It Ar $M5D6
346: rotate on every 5th day of the month at 6:00 hr
347: (same as
348: .Ar @05T06 )
349: .El
350: .Pp
351: .It Ar flags
352: The optional
1.4 downsj 353: .Ar flags
1.1 deraadt 354: field specifies if the archives should have any special processing
1.18 aaron 355: done to the archived log files.
356: The
1.13 aaron 357: .Sq Z
358: flag will make the archive
1.4 downsj 359: files compressed to save space using
360: .Xr gzip 1
361: or
362: .Xr compress 1 ,
1.18 aaron 363: depending on compilation options.
364: The
1.13 aaron 365: .Sq B
366: flag means that the file is a
1.8 aaron 367: binary file, and so the ASCII message which
1.13 aaron 368: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 369: inserts to indicate the fact that the logs have been turned over
1.18 aaron 370: should not be included.
371: The
1.13 aaron 372: .Sq M
373: flag marks this entry as a monitored
1.4 downsj 374: log file.
1.22 wcobb 375: The
376: .Sq F
377: flag specifies that symbolic links should be followed.
1.33 millert 378: .It Ar monitor
1.31 millert 379: Specify the username (or email address) that should receive notification
380: messages if this is a monitored log file.
1.18 aaron 381: Notification messages are sent as email; the operator
1.13 aaron 382: deserves what they get if they mark the
1.5 downsj 383: .Xr sendmail 8
1.6 d 384: log file as monitored.
1.33 millert 385: This field is only valid when the
386: .Sq M
387: flag is set.
388: .It Ar pid_file
389: This optional field specifies a file containing the PID of a process to send a
390: signal (usually
391: .Dv SIGHUP )
392: to instead of
1.7 millert 393: .Pa /var/run/syslog.pid .
1.33 millert 394: .It Ar signal
1.18 aaron 395: Specify the signal to send to the process instead of
396: .Dv SIGHUP .
397: Signal names
1.16 millert 398: must start with
399: .Dq SIG
1.18 aaron 400: and be the signal name, not the number, e.g.,
1.23 millert 401: .Dv SIGUSR1 .
1.33 millert 402: .It Ar command
403: This optional field specifies a command to run instead of sending a signal
404: to the process.
1.18 aaron 405: The command must be enclosed in double quotes
1.30 deraadt 406: .Pq Ql \&" .
1.29 millert 407: The empty string,
408: .Ql \&"\&" ,
409: can use used to prevent
410: .Nm
411: from sending a signal or running a command.
1.18 aaron 412: You cannot specify both a command and a PID file.
1.25 millert 413: .Em NOTE:
1.19 millert 414: If you specify a command to be run,
415: .Nm
416: will not send a
417: .Dv SIGHUP to
418: .Xr syslogd 8 .
1.4 downsj 419: .El
420: .Sh FILES
421: .Bl -tag -width /etc/newsyslog.conf
422: .It Pa /etc/newsyslog.conf
1.11 aaron 423: default configuration file
1.4 downsj 424: .El
425: .Sh SEE ALSO
1.8 aaron 426: .Xr compress 1 ,
1.4 downsj 427: .Xr gzip 1 ,
428: .Xr syslog 3 ,
1.8 aaron 429: .Xr syslogd 8
1.21 mpech 430: .Sh AUTHORS
1.18 aaron 431: .Bd -unfilled
1.1 deraadt 432: Theodore Ts'o, MIT Project Athena
433: Copyright 1987, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1.4 downsj 434: .Ed
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