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 numbers > 0 are com‐
       pressed 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 following actions are per‐
       formed:


       1)     Version numbered files are cycled.  Version file.2 is moved to version file.3, ver‐
              sion 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  uncom‐
              pressed 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  sub‐
              ject  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 form of [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]

       -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 Jun 2010                                 SAVELOG(8)