compress
    Old versions of log files are compressed with gzip(1) by
    default. See also nocompress.

compresscmd
    Specifies which command to use to compress log files. The
    default is gzip(1). See also compress.

uncompresscmd
    Specifies which command to use to uncompress log files. The
    default is gunzip(1).

compressext
    Specifies which extension to use on compressed logfiles, if
    compression is enabled. The default follows that of the
    configured compression command.

compressoptions
    Command line options may be passed to the compression program,
    if one is in use. The default, for gzip(1), is "-6" (biased
    towards high compression at the expense of speed). If you use a
    different compression command, you may need to change the
    compressoptions to match.

copy
    Make a copy of the log file, but don't change the original at
    all. This option can be used, for instance, to make a snapshot
    of the current log file, or when some other utility needs to
    truncate or parse the file. When this option is used, the
    create option will have no effect, as the old log file stays in
    place.

copytruncate
    Truncate the original log file to zero size in place after
    creating a copy, instead of moving the old log file and
    optionally creating a new one. It can be used when some program
    cannot be told to close its logfile and thus might continue
    writing (appending) to the previous log file forever. Note that
    there is a very small time slice between copying the file and
    truncating it, so some logging data might be lost. When this
    option is used, the create option will have no effect, as the
    old log file stays in place.

create mode owner group, create owner group
    Immediately after rotation (before the postrotate script is run)
    the log file is created (with the same name as the log file just
    rotated). mode specifies the mode for the log file in octal
    (the same as chmod(2)), owner specifies the user name who will
    own the log file, and group specifies the group the log file
    will belong to. Any of the log file attributes may be omitted,
    in which case those attributes for the new file will use the
    same values as the original log file for the omitted attributes.
    This option can be disabled using the nocreate option.

createolddir mode owner group
    If the directory specified by olddir directive does not exist,
    it is created. mode specifies the mode for the olddir directory
    in octal (the same as chmod(2)), owner specifies the user name
    who will own the olddir directory, and group specifies the group
    the olddir directory will belong to. This option can be disabled
    using the nocreateolddir option.

daily
    Log files are rotated every day.

dateext
    Archive old versions of log files adding a date extension like
    YYYYMMDD instead of simply adding a number. The extension may be
    configured using the dateformat and dateyesterday options.

dateformat format_string
    Specify the extension for dateext using the notation similar to
    strftime(3) function. Only %Y %m %d %H %M %S %V and %s
    specifiers are allowed. The default value is -%Y%m%d except
    hourly, which uses -%Y%m%d%H as default value. Note that also
    the character separating log name from the extension is part of
    the dateformat string. The system clock must be set past Sep 9th
    2001 for %s to work correctly. Note that the datestamps
    generated by this format must be lexically sortable (i.e., first
    the year, then the month then the day. e.g., 2001/12/01 is ok,
    but 01/12/2001 is not, since 01/11/2002 would sort lower while
    it is later). This is because when using the rotate option,
    logrotate sorts all rotated filenames to find out which logfiles
    are older and should be removed.

dateyesterday
    Use yesterday's instead of today's date to create the dateext
    extension, so that the rotated log file has a date in its name
    that is the same as the timestamps within it.

delaycompress
    Postpone compression of the previous log file to the next
    rotation cycle. This only has effect when used in combination
    with compress. It can be used when some program cannot be told
    to close its logfile and thus might continue writing to the
    previous log file for some time.

extension ext
    Log files with ext extension can keep it after the rotation. If
    compression is used, the compression extension (normally .gz)
    appears after ext. For example you have a logfile named
    mylog.foo and want to rotate it to mylog.1.foo.gz instead of
    mylog.foo.1.gz.

hourly Log files are rotated every hour. Note that usually logrotate is
    configured to be run by cron daily. You have to change this
    configuration and run logrotate hourly to be able to really
    rotate logs hourly.

addextension ext
    Log files are given the final extension ext after rotation. If
    the original file already ends with ext, the extension is not
    duplicated, but merely moved to the end, i.e. both filename and
    filenameext would get rotated to filename.1ext. If compression
    is used, the compression extension (normally .gz) appears after
    ext.

ifempty
    Rotate the log file even if it is empty, overriding the
    notifempty option (ifempty is the default).

include file_or_directory
    Reads the file given as an argument as if it was included inline
    where the include directive appears. If a directory is given,
    most of the files in that directory are read in alphabetic order
    before processing of the including file continues. The only
    files which are ignored are files which are not regular files
    (such as directories and named pipes) and files whose names end
    with one of the taboo extensions or patterns, as specified by
    the tabooext or taboopat directives, respectively.

mail address
    When a log is rotated out of existence, it is mailed to address.
    If no mail should be generated by a particular log, the nomail
    directive may be used.

mailfirst
    When using the mail command, mail the just-rotated file, instead
    of the about-to-expire file.

maillast
    When using the mail command, mail the about-to-expire file,
    instead of the just-rotated file (this is the default).

minage count
    Do not rotate logs which are less than <count> days old.

maxage count
    Remove rotated logs older than <count> days. The age is only
    checked if the logfile is to be rotated. The files are mailed to
    the configured address if maillast and mail are configured.

maxsize size
    Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than size bytes even
    before the additionally specified time interval (daily, weekly,
    monthly, or yearly). The related size option is similar except
    that it is mutually exclusive with the time interval options,
    and it causes log files to be rotated without regard for the
    last rotation time. When maxsize is used, both the size and
    timestamp of a log file are considered.

minsize size
    Log files are rotated when they grow bigger than size bytes, but
    not before the additionally specified time interval (daily,
    weekly, monthly, or yearly). The related size option is similar
    except that it is mutually exclusive with the time interval
    options, and it causes log files to be rotated without regard
    for the last rotation time. When minsize is used, both the size
    and timestamp of a log file are considered.

missingok
    If the log file is missing, go on to the next one without
    issuing an error message. See also nomissingok.

monthly
    Log files are rotated the first time logrotate is run in a month
    (this is normally on the first day of the month).

nocompress
    Old versions of log files are not compressed. See also compress.

nocopy Do not copy the original log file and leave it in place. (this
    overrides the copy option).

nocopytruncate
    Do not truncate the original log file in place after creating a
    copy (this overrides the copytruncate option).

nocreate
    New log files are not created (this overrides the create
    option).

nocreateolddir
    olddir directory is not created by logrotate when it does not
    exist.

nodelaycompress
    Do not postpone compression of the previous log file to the next
    rotation cycle (this overrides the delaycompress option).

nodateext
    Do not archive old versions of log files with date extension
    (this overrides the dateext option).

nomail
    Do not mail old log files to any address.

nomissingok
    If a log file does not exist, issue an error. This is the
    default.

noolddir
    Logs are rotated in the directory they normally reside in (this
    overrides the olddir option).

nosharedscripts
    Run prerotate and postrotate scripts for every log file which is
    rotated (this is the default, and overrides the sharedscripts
    option). The absolute path to the log file is passed as first
    argument to the script. If the scripts exit with error, the
    remaining actions will not be executed for the affected log
    only.

noshred
    Do not use shred when deleting old log files. See also shred.

notifempty
    Do not rotate the log if it is empty (this overrides the ifempty
    option).

olddir directory
    Logs are moved into directory for rotation. The directory must
    be on the same physical device as the log file being rotated,
    unless copy, copytruncate or renamecopy option is used. The
    directory is assumed to be relative to the directory holding the
    log file unless an absolute path name is specified. When this
    option is used all old versions of the log end up in directory.
    This option may be overridden by the noolddir option.

postrotate/endscript
    The lines between postrotate and endscript (both of which must
    appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh)
    after the log file is rotated. These directives may only appear
    inside a log file definition. Normally, the absolute path to the
    log file is passed as first argument to the script. If
    sharedscripts is specified, whole pattern is passed to the
    script. See also prerotate. See sharedscripts and
    nosharedscripts for error handling.

prerotate/endscript
    The lines between prerotate and endscript (both of which must
    appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh)
    before the log file is rotated and only if the log will actually
    be rotated. These directives may only appear inside a log file
    definition. Normally, the absolute path to the log file is
    passed as first argument to the script. If sharedscripts is
    specified, whole pattern is passed to the script. See also
    postrotate. See sharedscripts and nosharedscripts for error
    handling.

firstaction/endscript
    The lines between firstaction and endscript (both of which must
    appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh) once
    before all log files that match the wildcarded pattern are
    rotated, before prerotate script is run and only if at least one
    log will actually be rotated. These directives may only appear
    inside a log file definition. Whole pattern is passed to the
    script as first argument. If the script exits with error, no
    further processing is done. See also lastaction.

lastaction/endscript
    The lines between lastaction and endscript (both of which must
    appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh) once
    after all log files that match the wildcarded pattern are
    rotated, after postrotate script is run and only if at least one
    log is rotated. These directives may only appear inside a log
    file definition. Whole pattern is passed to the script as first
    argument. If the script exits with error, just an error message
    is shown (as this is the last action). See also firstaction.

preremove/endscript
    The lines between preremove and endscript (both of which must
    appear on lines by themselves) are executed (using /bin/sh) once
    just before removal of a log file. The logrotate will pass the
    name of file which is soon to be removed. See also firstaction.

rotate count
    Log files are rotated count times before being removed or mailed
    to the address specified in a mail directive. If count is 0, old
    versions are removed rather than rotated. Default is 0.

renamecopy
    Log file is renamed to temporary filename in the same directory
    by adding ".tmp" extension to it. After that, postrotate script
    is run and log file is copied from temporary filename to final
    filename. This allows storing rotated log files on the different
    devices using olddir directive. In the end, temporary filename
    is removed.

size size
    Log files are rotated only if they grow bigger than size bytes.
    If size is followed by k, the size is assumed to be in
    kilobytes. If the M is used, the size is in megabytes, and if G
    is used, the size is in gigabytes. So size 100, size 100k, size
    100M and size 100G are all valid.

sharedscripts
    Normally, prerotate and postrotate scripts are run for each log
    which is rotated and the absolute path to the log file is passed
    as first argument to the script. That means a single script may
    be run multiple times for log file entries which match multiple
    files (such as the /var/log/news/* example). If sharedscripts is
    specified, the scripts are only run once, no matter how many
    logs match the wildcarded pattern, and whole pattern is passed
    to them. However, if none of the logs in the pattern require
    rotating, the scripts will not be run at all. If the scripts
    exit with error, the remaining actions will not be executed for
    any logs. This option overrides the nosharedscripts option and
    implies create option.

shred Delete log files using shred -u instead of unlink(). This
    should ensure that logs are not readable after their scheduled
    deletion; this is off by default. See also noshred.

shredcycles count
    Asks GNU shred(1) to overwrite log files count times before
    deletion. Without this option, shred's default will be used.

start count
    This is the number to use as the base for rotation. For example,
    if you specify 0, the logs will be created with a .0 extension
    as they are rotated from the original log files. If you specify
    9, log files will be created with a .9, skipping 0-8. Files
    will still be rotated the number of times specified with the
    rotate directive.

su user group
    Rotate log files set under this user and group instead of using
    default user/group (usually root). user specifies the user name
    used for rotation and group specifies the group used for
    rotation. If the user/group you specify here does not have
    sufficient privilege to make files with the ownership you've
    specified in a create instruction, it will cause an error.

tabooext [+] list
    The current taboo extension list is changed (see the include
    directive for information on the taboo extensions). If a +
    precedes the list of extensions, the current taboo extension
    list is augmented, otherwise it is replaced. At startup, the
    taboo extension list contains .rpmsave, .rpmorig, ~, .disabled,
    .dpkg-old, .dpkg-dist, .dpkg-new, .cfsaved, .ucf-old, .ucf-dist,
    .ucf-new, .rpmnew, .swp, .cfsaved, .rhn-cfg-tmp-*

taboopat [+] list
    The current taboo glob pattern list is changed (see the include
    directive for information on the taboo extensions and patterns).
    If a + precedes the list of patterns, the current taboo pattern
    list is augmented, otherwise it is replaced. At startup, the
    taboo pattern list is empty.

weekly Log files are rotated if the current weekday is less than the
    weekday of the last rotation or if more than a week has passed
    since the last rotation. This is normally the same as rotating
    logs on the first day of the week, but it works better if
    logrotate is not run every night.

yearly Log files are rotated if the current year is not the same as the
    last rotation.