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NAME

       savelog - save a log file

SYNOPSIS

       savelog  [-m  mode] [-u user] [-g group] [-t] [-p] [-c cycle] [-l] [-j]
       [-C] [-d] [-l] [-r rolldir] [-n] [-q] [-D dateformat] file ...

DESCRIPTION

       The savelog command saves  and  optionally  compresses  old  copies  of
       files.  Older versions of file are named:

              file.<number><compress_suffix>

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

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

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

       1)     Version  numbered  files are cycled.  Version file.2 is moved to
              version file.3, version file.1 is moved to version  file.2,  and
              so  on.   Finally version file.0 is moved to version file.1, and
              version file is deleted.  Both compressed names and uncompressed
              names  are  cycled, regardless of -l.  Missing version files are
              ignored.

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

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

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

       5)     The new file.0 is changed subject to the -m, -u, and -g flags.

OPTIONS

       -m mode
              chmod the log files to mode, implies -t

       -u user
              chown log files to user, implies -t

       -g group
              chgrp log files to group, implies -t

       -c cycle
              Save cycle versions of the logfile (default: 7). The cycle count
              must be at least 2.

       -t     touch new logfile into existence

       -l     don’t compress any log files (default: do compress)

       -p     preserve owner, group, and permissions of logfile

       -j     compress with bzip2 instead of gzip

       -C     force cleanup of cycled logfiles

       -d     use standard date for rolling

       -D dateformat
              override date format, in the form of [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]

       -r     use rolldir instead of . to roll files

       -n     do not rotate empty files

       -q     be quiet

BUGS

       If a process is still writing to file.0, and savelog moves it to file.1
       and compresses it, data could be lost.