.\" -*- nroff -*-
.TH SAVELOG 8 "21 October 2007" "Debian"
.SH NAME
savelog \- save a log file
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B savelog
[\-m mode] [\-u user] [\-g group] [\-t] [\-p] [\-c cycle] [\-l] [\-j]
[\-C] [\-d] [\-l] [\-r rolldir] [\-n] [\-q] [\-D dateformat] file ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B savelog
command saves and optionally compresses old copies of files.  Older versions
of
.I file
are named:
.RS

.IR "file" "." "<number>" "" "<compress_suffix>"

.RE
where 
.I <number>
is the version number, 0 being the newest.  Version numbers > 0 are compressed
unless
.B \-l
prevents it.  Version number 0 is not compressed because a process might still
have 
.I file
opened for I/O.  Only
.I cycle
versions of the file are kept.

If the file does not exist and
.B \-t
was given, it will be created.

For files that do exist and have lengths greater than zero, the following
actions are performed:

.IP 1)
Version numbered files are cycled.  Version
.IR cycle \-2
is moved to version
.IR cycle "\-3,"
version
.IR cycle \-1
is moved to version
.IR cycle "\-2 ,"
and so on.  Finally version 0 is moved to version 1, and version
.I cycle
is deleted.  Both
compressed names and uncompressed names are cycled, regardless of
.BR \-l .
Missing version files are ignored.

.IP 2)
The new
.I file.1
is compressed unless the
.B \-l
flag was given.  It is changed subject to the
.BR "\-m" ", " "\-u" ", and " "\-g"
flags.

.IP 3)
The main file is moved to
.IR file.0 .

.IP 4)
If the
.BR "\-m" ", " "\-u" ", " "\-g" ",  " "\-t" ", or " "\-p"
flags are given, then an empty
.I file
is created subject to the given flags.  With the
.B \-p
flag, the file is created with the same owner, group, and permissions as
before.

.IP 5)
The new
.I file.0
is changed subject to the
.BR "\-m" ", " "\-u" ", and " "\-g"
flags.

Since the version numbers start with 0, version number
.I cycle
is never formed.  The
.I cycle
count must be at least 2.

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B "\-m mode"
chmod the log files to mode, implies
.B \-t
.TP
.B "\-u user"
chown log files to user, implies
.B \-t
.TP
.B "\-g group"
chgrp log files to group, implies
.B \-t
.TP
.B "\-c cycle"
Save cycle versions of the logfile (default: 7)
.TP
.B \-t
touch new logfile into existence
.TP
.B \-l
don't compress any log files (default: do compress)
.TP
.B \-p
preserve owner, group, and permissions of logfile
.TP
.B \-j
compress with bzip2 instead of gzip
.TP
.B \-C
force cleanup of cycled logfiles
.TP
.B \-d
use standard date for rolling
.TP
.B "\-D dateformat"
override date format, in the form of
.I [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]
.TP
.B \-r
use
.I rolldir
instead of . to roll files
.TP
.B \-n
do not rotate empty files
.TP
.B \-q
be quiet
.SH BUGS
If a process is still writing to
.IR "file.0" ","
and savelog moves it to
.I file.1
and compresses it, data could be lost.