savelog

SAVELOG(8)                  System Manager's Manual                 SAVELOG(8)

NAME
       savelog - save a log file

SYNOPSIS
       savelog  [-m  mode] [-u user] [-g group] [-t] [-p] [-c cycle] [-l] [-j]
       [-J] [-1 .. -9] [-C] [-d] [-l] [-r rolldir] [-n] [-q]  [-D  dateformat]
       file ...

DESCRIPTION
       The  savelog  command  saves  and  optionally  compresses old copies of
       files.  Older versions of file are named:

              file.<number><compress_suffix>

       where <number> is the version number, 0 being the newest.  Version num-
       bers > 0 are compressed unless -l prevents it.  Version number 0 is not
       compressed because a process might still  have  file  opened  for  I/O.
       Only cycle versions of the file are kept.

       If the file does not exist and -t was given, it will be created.

       For files that do exist and have lengths greater than zero, the follow-
       ing actions are performed:

       1)     Version numbered files are cycled.  Version file.2 is  moved  to
              version  file.3,  version file.1 is moved to version file.2, and
              so on.  Finally version file.0 is moved to version  file.1,  and
              version file is deleted.  Both compressed names and uncompressed
              names are cycled, regardless of -l.  Missing version  files  are
              ignored.

       2)     The  new  file.1 is compressed unless the -l flag was given.  It
              is changed subject to the -m, -u, and -g flags.

       3)     The main file is moved to file.0.

       4)     If the -m, -u, -g,  -t, or -p flags are  given,  then  an  empty
              file  is  created subject to the given flags.  With the -p flag,
              the file is created with the same owner, group, and  permissions
              as before.

       5)     The new file.0 is changed subject to the -m, -u, and -g flags.

OPTIONS
       -m mode
              chmod the log files to mode, implies -t

       -u user
              chown log files to user, implies -t

       -g group
              chgrp log files to group, implies -t

       -c cycle
              Save cycle versions of the logfile (default: 7). The cycle count
              must be at least 2.

       -t     touch new logfile into existence

       -l     don't compress any log files (default: do compress)

       -p     preserve owner, group, and permissions of logfile

       -j     compress with bzip2 instead of gzip

       -J     compress with xz instead of gzip

              For xz no strength option is set, and xz decides on the  default
              based  on the total amount of physical RAM. Note that xz can use
              a very large amount of memory for the higher compression levels.

       -1 .. -9
              compression strength or memory usage (default: 9, except for xz)

       -C     force cleanup of cycled logfiles

       -d     use standard date for rolling

       -D dateformat
              override date format, in the syntax understood  by  the  date(1)
              command

       -r     use rolldir instead of . to roll files

       -n     do not rotate empty files

       -q     be quiet

BUGS
       If a process is still writing to file.0, and savelog moves it to file.1
       and compresses it, data could be lost.

SEE ALSO
       logrotate(8)

Debian                            30 Dec 2017                       SAVELOG(8)