Cronolog usage
The cronolog package consists of two programs: cronolog and cronosplit. There is a manual page for each in PDF format (cronolog and cronosplit)
The cronolog program
The cronolog program is normally invoked as a piped log filter program from Apache as specified in the configuration file. The direct program usage is:
/path/to/cronolog [OPTIONS] logfile-spec
The logfile-spec is a template that describes the names of the log files that should be written. Each character in the template represents a character in the expanded filename, except for date and time format specifiers, which are replaced by their expansion. Format specifiers consist of a "%" followed by a character as described in the table below. However it would normally be used in an Apache CustomLog directive as so:
CustomLog "|/path/to/cronolog [OPTIONS] logfile-spec" [format]
Note that the entire cronolog command line is enclosed within quotes and preceded by a vertical bar ("|"). The quotes cause Apache to regard the command line as a single argument and the presence of the vertical bar tells Apache that this is a piped log and that the command line is passed to the shell.
cronolog options
Long form Short form Meaning
--hardlink=NAME -H NAME maintain a hard link from NAME to the current log file
--symlink=NAME -S NAME maintain a symbolic link from NAME to the current log file
--prev-symlink=NAME -P NAME maintain a symbolic link from NAME to previous log
--link=NAME -l NAME same as -S/--symlink
--help -h print a help message then exit
--period=PERIOD -p PERIOD set the rotation period explicitly (new in 1.6.2)
--delay=DELAY set the rotation period delay (new in 1.6.2 -- this will be renamed --rotation- offset with a short form of -o in 1.6.3)
--once-only create single output log from template (not rotated)
--debug=FILE -x FILE write debug messages to FILE ( or to standard error if FILE is "-")
--american -a Interprete ambiguous start dates in American date formats (mm/dd/yy[yy])
--european -e Interprete ambiguous start dates in European date formats (dd/mm/yy[yy] - default)
--start-time=DT -s DT starting date and time (in ambiguous cases interpreted according to --
american or --european specification)
--time-zone=TZ -z TZ use TZ for timezone
--version -V print version number, then exit
Template specifiers
Specifier Description
%% a literal % character
%n a new-line character
%t a horizontal tab character
Time fields
%H hour (00..23)
%I hour (01..12)
%p the locale's AM or PM indicator
%M minute (00..59)
%S second (00..61, which allows for leap seconds)
%X the locale's time representation (e.g.: "15:12:47")
%Z time zone (e.g. GMT), or nothing if the time zone cannot be determined
Date fields
%a the locale's abbreviated weekday name (e.g.: Sun..Sat)
%A the locale's full weekday name (e.g.: Sunday .. Saturday)
%b the locale's abbreviated month name (e.g.: Jan .. Dec)
%B the locale's full month name, (e.g.: January .. December)
%c the locale's date and time (e.g.: "Sun Dec 15 14:12:47 GMT 1996")
%d day of month (01 .. 31)
%j day of year (001 .. 366)
%m month (01 .. 12)
%U week of the year with Sunday as first day of week (00..53, where week 1 is the week containing the first Sunday of the year)
%W week of the year with Monday as first day of week (00..53, where week 1 is the week containing the first Monday of the year)
%w day of week (0 .. 6, where 0 corresponds to Sunday)
%x locale's date representation (e.g. today in Britain: "15/12/96")
%y year without the century (00 .. 99)
%Y year with the century (1970 .. 2038)
