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NEWSYSLOG(8)                                         NEWSYSLOG(8)






NAME

       newsyslog - maintain system log files to manageable sizes


SYNOPSIS

       /usr/bin/newsyslog [ -vnr ] [ -f configuration file ]


DESCRIPTION

       Newsyslog  is  a  program  that should be scheduled to run
       periodically by crontab.  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  com-
       pressed to save space.

       A  log  can  be  archived because of two reasons.  The log
       file can have grown bigger than a  preset  size  in  kilo-
       bytes,  or a preset number of hours may have elapsed since
       the last log archive.  The  granularity  of  newsyslog  is
       dependent  on how often it is scheduled to run in crontab.
       Since the program is quite fast, it may  be  scheduled  to
       run every hour without any ill effects.

       When  starting up, newsyslog reads in a configuration file
       to determine which logs should be looked at.  By  default,
       this configuration file is /etc/newsyslog.conf.  Each line
       of the file contains information about  a  particular  log
       file  that  should be handled by newsyslog.  Each line has
       five mandatory fields and  two  optional  fields,  with  a
       whitespace  separating  each  field.  Blank lines or lines
       beginning with ``#'' are ignored.  The fields of the  con-
       figuration file are as follows:
            logfile name
            owner.group of archives (optional)
            mode of logfile & archives
            number of archives
            size of archives
            archive interval
            flags (optional)

       The  logfile name entry is the name of the system log file
       to be archived.

       The optional owner.group entry specifies an ownership  and
       group for the archive file.  The "." is essential, even if
       the owner or group field is left blank. The fields may  be
       numeric,  or  a  name which is looked up in /etc/passwd or
       /etc/group.

       The number of  archives  entry  specifies  the  number  of
       archives to be kept besides the log file itself.




Project Athena           January 12, 1989                       1





NEWSYSLOG(8)                                         NEWSYSLOG(8)


       When the size of the logfile reaches size of archives, the
       logfile becomes trimmed as described above.  If this field
       is  replaced  by  a ``*'', then the size of the logfile is
       not taken into account when determining when to  trim  the
       log file.

       The  number  of  hours entry specifies the time separation
       between the trimming of the log file.  If  this  field  is
       replaced  by  a  ``*'', the number of hours since the last
       time the log was trimmed will not be taken into considera-
       tion.

       The  flags field specifies if the archives should have any
       special processing done to the archived  log  files.   The
       ``Z''  flag will make the archive files compressed to save
       space using /usr/bin/gzip.  The ``B'' flag means that  the
       file  is  a  binary  file,  and so the ascii message which
       newsyslog inserts to indicate the fact that the logs  have
       been turned over should not be included.



OPTIONS

       The following options can be used with newsyslog:

       -f config-file
              instructs  newsyslog  to use config-file instead of
              /etc/newsyslog.conf for its configuration file.

       -v     places 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     causes newsyslog not to trim the logs, but to print
              out what it would do if this option were not speci-
              fied.

       -r     removes the restriction that newsyslog must be run-
              ning  as  root.   Of  course, newsyslog will not be
              able to send a  HUP  signal  to  syslogd,  so  this
              option should only be used in debugging.


FILES

       /etc/newsyslog.conf


BUGS

       Doesn't  yet  automatically read the logs to find security
       breaches.




AUTHOR

       Theodore Ts'o, MIT Project Athena
       Copyright 1987, Massachusetts Institute of Technology




Project Athena           January 12, 1989                       2





NEWSYSLOG(8)                                         NEWSYSLOG(8)



SEE ALSO

       syslogd(8), syslog(3), gzip(1)























































Project Athena           January 12, 1989                       3