Logrotate: Force Log Rotation

Normally, log rotation in Linux is handled by daily cron job.

The default configuration file is /etc/logrotate.conf and service or server specific configurations are stored in /etc/logrotate.d directory.

Sometimes it needs to force rotation of some files manually.

Below you will find how to debug and force logrotate manually.

Cool Tip: Everything you should know about crontab: the format of crontab, cron job syntax and examples of how to run cron job every minute, 5 minutes, hour, day (daily), etc. Read more →

Force Log Rotation

Check what will happen when logrotate is forced (no changes will be made):

$ logrotate -vdf CONFIG_FILE

Manually force logrotate:

$ logrotate -vf CONFIG_FILE

The options passed to the logrotate command:

Option	Description
-d, --debug	Dry run logrotate.
-f, --force	Force logrotate.
-v, --verbose	Shows more information.

Info: With the -f, --force option the logrotate will force the rotation of files even if they do not meet the specified criteria such as minsize, age, etc.