169 lines
4.9 KiB
Groff
169 lines
4.9 KiB
Groff
.TH NEWSYSLOG 8 "January 12, 1989" "Project Athena"
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.ns
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.\" This file contains changes from the Open Software Foundation.
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.\"
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.\" from: @(#)newsyslog.8
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.\" $Id: newsyslog.8,v 1.4 1993/08/01 18:49:39 cgd Exp $
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.\"
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.\" Copyright 1988, 1989 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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.\"
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.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software
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.\" and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is
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.\" hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice
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.\" appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and
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.\" this permission notice appear in supporting documentation,
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.\" and that the names of M.I.T. and the M.I.T. S.I.P.B. not be
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.\" used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution
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.\" of the software without specific, written prior permission.
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.\" M.I.T. and the M.I.T. S.I.P.B. make no representations about
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.\" the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is
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.\" provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
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.\"
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.sp
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.SH NAME
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newsyslog \- maintain system log files to manageable sizes
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.B /usr/bin/newsyslog
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[
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.B \-vnr
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] [
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.B \-f
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.I configuration file
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]
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.I Newsyslog
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is a program that should be scheduled to run periodically by
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.IR crontab .
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When it is executed it archives log files if necessary. If a log file
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is determined to require archiving,
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.I newsyslog
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rearranges the files so that ``logfile'' is empty, ``logfile.0'' has
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the last period's logs in it, ``logfile.1'' has the next to last
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period's logs in it, and so on, up to a user-specified number of
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archived logs. Optionally the archived logs can be compressed to save
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space.
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.PP
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A log can be archived because of two reasons. The log file can have
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grown bigger than a preset size in kilobytes, or a preset number of
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hours may have elapsed since the last log archive. The granularity of
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.I newsyslog
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is dependent on how often it is scheduled to run in crontab. Since
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the program is quite fast, it may be scheduled to run every hour
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without any ill effects.
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.PP
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When starting up,
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.I newsyslog
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reads in a configuration file to determine which logs should be looked
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at. By default, this configuration file is
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.IR /etc/newsyslog.conf .
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Each line of the file contains information about a particular log file
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that should be handled by
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.IR newsyslog .
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Each line has five mandatory fields and two optional fields, with a
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whitespace separating each field. Blank lines or lines beginning with
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``#'' are ignored. The fields of the configuration file are as
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follows:
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.br
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logfile name
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.br
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owner.group of archives (optional)
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.br
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mode of logfile & archives
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.br
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number of archives
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.br
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size of archives
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.br
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archive interval
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.br
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flags (optional)
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.PP
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The
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.I logfile name
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entry is the name of the system log file to be archived.
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.PP
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The optional
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.I owner.group
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entry specifies an ownership and group for the archive file.
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The "." is essential, even if the
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.I owner
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or
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.I group
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field is left blank. The
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fields may be numeric, or a name which is looked up in
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.I /etc/passwd
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or
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.IR /etc/group .
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.PP
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The
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.I number of archives
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entry specifies the number of archives to be kept besides the log file
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itself.
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.PP
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When the size of the logfile reaches
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.I size of
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.IR archives ,
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the logfile becomes trimmed as described above. If this field is
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replaced by a ``*'', then the size of the logfile is not taken into
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account when determining when to trim the log file.
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.PP
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The
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.I number of hours
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entry specifies the time separation between the trimming of the log
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file. If this field is replaced by a ``*'', the the number of hours
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since the last time the log was trimmed will not be taken into
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consideration.
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.PP
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The
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.I flags
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field specifies if the archives should have any special processing
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done to the archived log files. The ``Z'' flag will make the archive
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files compressed to save space using /usr/ucb/compress. The ``B'' flag
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means that the file is a binary file, and so the ascii message which
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.I newsyslog
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inserts to indicate the fact that the logs have been turned over
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should not be included.
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.PP
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.SH OPTIONS
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The following options can be used with newsyslog:
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.TP
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.B \-f \fIconfig-file
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instructs newsyslog to use
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.I config-file
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instead of /var/adm/newsyslog.conf for its configuration file.
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.TP
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.B \-v
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places
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.I newsyslog
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in verbose mode. In this mode it will print out each log and its
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reasons for either trimming that log or skipping it.
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.TP
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.B \-n
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causes
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.I newsyslog
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not to trim the logs, but to print out what it would do if this option
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were not specified.
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.TP
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.B \-r
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removes the restriction that
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.I newsyslog
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must be running as root. Of course,
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.I newsyslog
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will not be able to send a HUP signal to
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.IR syslogd ,
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so this option should only be used in debugging.
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.SH FILES
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/var/adm/newsyslog.conf
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.SH BUGS
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Doesn't yet automatically read the logs to find security breaches.
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.SH AUTHOR
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Theodore Ts'o, MIT Project Athena
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.br
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Copyright 1987, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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.SH "SEE ALSO"
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syslogd(8), syslog(3), compress(1)
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.ns
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.sp
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