Re: [webmin-l] Logrotate - Newsyslog

[Jamie C. <jca...@we...>]

Hi Grant,

Does newsyslog use the exact same config file format as logrotate? If
so, then perhaps I could update the logrotate module .. otherwise, it
would be touger.

Actually, from the name it sounds like newsyslog is a replacement for
syslog, rather than for logrotate..

 - Jamie

On Mon, 2005-10-10 at 22:17, Grant Peel wrote:
> Hi Jamie,
> 
> Is there any change we can coerce you into updateting the Logrotate module 
> so it will work with FreeBSD's newsyslog utility. It is very close to 
> working, but it has no --version switch, so logrotate craps out when it try 
> to get it (-v actually means verbose).
> 
> -Grant
> 
> Logrotate output ...
> 
> Failed to get the version of logrotate with the command 
> /usr/sbin/newsyslog -v :
> /var/log/cron <3Z>: --> will trim at Mon Oct 10 00:00:00 2005
> /var/log/amd.log <3Z>: does not exist.
> /var/log/kerberos.log <3Z>: does not exist.
> ...Manpage - FreeBSD 5.4 - newsyslogdefiant# man newsyslogFormatting page, 
> please wait...Done.NEWSYSLOG(8)            FreeBSD System Manager's Manual 
> NEWSYSLOG(8)NAME     newsyslog -- maintain system log files to manageable 
> sizesSYNOPSIS     newsyslog [-CFnrsv] [-R tagname] [-a directory] [-f 
> config_file]               [file ...]DESCRIPTION     The newsyslog utility 
> should be scheduled to run periodically by cron(8).     When it is executed 
> it archives log files if necessary.  If a log file is     determined to 
> require archiving, newsyslog rearranges the files so that     ``logfile'' is 
> empty, ``logfile.0'' has the last period's logs in it,     ``logfile.1'' has 
> the next to last period's logs in it, and so on, up to     a user-specified 
> number of archived logs.  Optionally the archived logs     can be compressed 
> to save space.     A log can be archived for three reasons:           1. 
> It is larger than the configured size (in kilobytes).           2.   A 
> configured number of hours have elapsed since the log was 
> last archived.           3.   This is the specific configured hour for 
> rotation of the log.     The granularity of newsyslog is dependent on how 
> often it is scheduled to     run by cron(8).  Since the program is quite 
> fast, it may be scheduled to     run every hour without any ill effects, and 
> mode three (above) assumes     that this is so.OPTIONS     The following 
> options can be used with newsyslog:     -f config_file             Instruct 
> newsyslog to use config_file instead of             /etc/newsyslog.conf for 
> its configuration file.     -a directory             Specify a directory 
> into which archived log files will be writ-             ten.  If a relative 
> path is given, it is appended to the path of             each log file and 
> the resulting path is used as the directory             into which the 
> archived log for that log file will be written.             If an absolute 
> path is given, all archived logs are written into             the given 
> directory.  If any component of the path directory does             not 
> exist, it will be created when newsyslog is run.     -v      Place newsyslog 
> in verbose mode.  In this mode it will print out             each log and 
> its reasons for either trimming that log or skipping             it.     -n 
> Cause newsyslog not to trim the logs, but to print out what it 
> would do if this option were not specified.     -r      Remove the 
> restriction that newsyslog must be running as root.             Of course, 
> newsyslog will not be able to send a HUP signal to             syslogd(8) so 
> this option should only be used in debugging.     -s      Specify that 
> newsyslog should not send any signals to any daemon             processes 
> that it would normally signal when rotating a log file.             For any 
> log file which is rotated, this option will usually also             mean 
> the rotated log file will not be compressed if there is a             daemon 
> which would have been signalled without this option.  How-             ever, 
> this option is most likely to be useful when specified with 
>             the -R option, and in that case the compression will be 
> .     -C      If specified once, then newsyslog will create any log files 
> which             do not exist, and which have the C flag specified in their 
> config             file entry.  If specified multiple times, then newsyslog 
> will             create all log files which do not already exist.  If log 
> files             are given on the command-line, then the -C or -CC will 
> only apply             to those specific log files.     -F      Force 
> newsyslog to trim the logs, even if the trim conditions             have not 
> been met.  This option is useful for diagnosing system             problems 
> by providing you with fresh logs that contain only the 
>         problems.     -R tagname             Specify that newsyslog should 
> rotate a given list of files, even             if trim conditions are not 
> met for those files.  The tagname is             only used in the messages 
> written to the log files which are             rotated.  This differs from 
> the -F option in that one or more log             files must also be 
> specified, so that newsyslog will only operate             on those specific 
> files.  This option is mainly intended for the             daemons or 
> programs which write some log files, and want to trig-             ger a 
> rotate based on their own criteria.  With this option they             can 
> execute newsyslog to trigger the rotate when they want it to 
> happen, and still give the system administrator a way to specify 
> the rules of rotation (such as how many backup copies are kept, 
> and what kind of compression is done).  When a daemon does exe- 
> cute newsyslog with the -R option, it should make sure all of the 
> log files are closed before calling newsyslog, and then it should 
> re-open the files after newsyslog returns.  Usually the calling 
> process will also want to specify the -s option, so newsyslog 
> will not send a signal to the very process which called it to 
> force the rotate.  Skipping the signal step will also mean that 
> newsyslog will return faster, since newsyslog normally waits a 
> few seconds after any signal that is sent.     If additional command line 
> arguments are given, newsyslog will only exam-     ine log files that match 
> those arguments; otherwise, it will examine all     files listed in the 
> configuration file.FILES     /etc/newsyslog.conf      newsyslog 
> configuration fileBUGS     Doesn't yet automatically read the logs to find 
> security breaches.AUTHORS     Theodore Ts'o, MIT Project Athena 
> Copyright 1987, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCOMPATIBILITY 
> Previous versions of the newsyslog utility used the dot (``.'') character 
> to distinguish the group name.  Beginning with FreeBSD 3.3, this has been 
> changed to a colon (``:'') character so that user and group names may 
> contain the dot character.  The dot (``.'') character is still accepted 
> for backwards compatibility.SEE ALSO     bzip(1), gzip(1), syslog(3), 
> newsyslog.conf(5), chown(8), syslogd(8)HISTORY     The newsyslog utility 
> originated from NetBSD and first appeared in     FreeBSD 2.2.FreeBSD 5.4 
> February 24, 2005                   FreeBSD 5.4