SAVELOG(8)

NAME
savelog - save a log file

SYNOPSIS
savelog [-m mode] [-u user] [-g group] [-t] [-p] [-c cycle] [-l] [-j] [-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 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 following actions are performed:

1)  Version numbered files are cycled. Version cycle-2 is moved to version cycle-3, version cycle-1 is moved to version cycle-2 , and so on. Finally version 0 is moved to version 1, and version cycle 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. Since the version numbers start with 0, version number cycle is never formed. The cycle count must be at least 2.

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)

-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

-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.