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)