LogrotateWin vs Linux Logrotate - Directive Comparison

December 13, 2025 · View on GitHub

This document compares the directives implemented in logrotatewin against the official Linux logrotate directives.

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Summary Statistics

  • Linux logrotate total directives: 69 configuration file directives
  • Logrotatewin implemented: 63 functional directives (includes enhanced weekly/monthly)
  • Logrotatewin Windows-specific: 7 additional directives
  • Not implemented: 3 directives (2 Unix-specific hardlink directives + 1 Unix-only su directive)
  • Coverage: 91% of Linux directives (63/69)

Fully Implemented Directives ✅

Rotation Scheduling

  • ✅ minutes <minutes> - Rotate after specified minutes
  • ✅ hourly - Rotate logs hourly
  • ✅ daily - Rotate logs daily
  • ✅ weekly [weekday] - Rotate logs weekly (optional: specific day 0-6, Sunday=0)
  • ✅ monthly [monthday] - Rotate logs monthly (optional: specific day 1-31)
  • ✅ yearly - Rotate logs yearly
  • ✅ rotate <count> - Number of rotations to keep
  • ✅ size <size> - Rotate when file reaches size
  • ✅ minsize <size> - Rotate when size AND time conditions met
  • ✅ maxsize <size> - Rotate when size exceeded, even before time interval

Compression

  • ✅ compress - Compress rotated logs
  • ✅ nocompress - Don't compress
  • ✅ compresscmd - Custom compression command
  • ✅ uncompresscmd - Custom decompression command (parsing only)
  • ✅ compressext - Custom compression extension
  • ✅ compressoptions - Options for compression command
  • ✅ delaycompress - Delay compression until next rotation
  • ✅ nodelaycompress - Don't delay compression

File Handling

  • ✅ create - Create new log file after rotation
  • ✅ nocreate - Don't create new log file
  • ✅ copy - Copy instead of rename
  • ✅ nocopy - Don't copy
  • ✅ copytruncate - Copy then truncate original
  • ✅ nocopytruncate - Don't use copytruncate
  • ✅ renamecopy - Rename to temp, run postrotate script, copy to final location
  • ✅ norenamecopy - Don't use renamecopy
  • ✅ olddir <directory> - Move rotated logs to directory
  • ✅ noolddir - Keep rotated logs in same directory
  • ✅ createolddir - Automatically create olddir if missing (default behavior)
  • ✅ nocreateolddir - Don't create olddir, error if missing
  • ✅ missingok - Don't error if log is missing
  • ✅ ifempty - Rotate even if empty
  • ✅ notifempty - Don't rotate if empty

File Naming

  • ✅ dateext - Use date extension instead of numbers
  • ✅ nodateext - Don't use date extensions
  • ✅ dateformat <format> - Custom date format
  • ✅ dateyesterday - Use yesterday's date in rotation
  • ✅ nodateyesterday - Use today's date (default)
  • ✅ datehourago - Use hour-ago timestamp
  • ✅ nodatehourago - Use current hour (default)
  • ✅ start <number> - Starting number for rotation sequence
  • ✅ extension <ext> - Preserve file extension after rotation
  • ✅ addextension <ext> - Add extension after rotation suffix

Deletion/Cleanup

  • ✅ maxage <days> - Remove logs older than specified days
  • ✅ shred - Use shred to delete files
  • ✅ noshred - Use normal deletion
  • ✅ shredcycles <count> - Number of shred overwrite cycles

Scripts

  • ✅ prerotate / endscript - Script before rotation
  • ✅ postrotate / endscript - Script after rotation
  • ✅ firstaction / endscript - Script before all rotations
  • ✅ lastaction / endscript - Script after all rotations
  • ✅ preremove / endscript - Script before file deletion
  • ✅ sharedscripts - Run scripts once for all logs
  • ✅ nosharedscripts - Run scripts per log file

Mail

  • ✅ mail <address> - Mail logs before deletion
  • ✅ nomail - Don't mail logs
  • ✅ mailfirst - Mail just-rotated file
  • ✅ maillast - Mail about-to-expire file

Configuration

  • ✅ include <file> - Include external config
  • ✅ tabooext [+] <list> - Extensions to ignore in include
  • ✅ taboopat [+] <list> - Glob patterns to ignore in include

Windows-Specific Extensions ✅

These directives are unique to logrotatewin and don't exist in Linux logrotate:

  • ✅ smtpserver - SMTP server for email
  • ✅ smtpport - SMTP port
  • ✅ smtpssl / nosmtpssl - Enable/disable SSL
  • ✅ smtpuser - SMTP username
  • ✅ smtpuserpwd - SMTP password
  • ✅ smtpfrom - From address
  • ✅ logfileopen_retry - Retry opening locked files
  • ✅ logfileopen_msbetweenretryattempts - Retry delay
  • ✅ logfileopen_numretryattempts - Number of retries

Missing/Not Implemented Directives ⚠️

Frequency Directives

All frequency directives are now fully implemented

File Selection

  • ✅ nomissingok - Error if file missing (opposite behavior only)
  • ✅ ignoreduplicates - Ignore duplicate log file matches
  • ✅ minage <count> - Don't rotate logs younger than N days
  • ✅ taboopat [+] <list> - Glob patterns to ignore

Files and Folders

  • ❌ allowhardlink - Allow rotation of hardlinked files
  • ❌ noallowhardlink - Prevent rotation of hardlinked files

Compression

All compression directives are now fully implemented

Filenames

All filename/date directives are now fully implemented

User/Group Management

  • ❌ su <user> <group> - Run rotation as specific user (not applicable on Windows)

Notes

  • Most "no-" prefix directives (like nocompress, nocreate) are implemented where their positive counterpart exists
  • The implementation focuses on the most common use cases for Windows environments
  • Windows-specific SMTP directives provide better integration than Linux's mail command
  • Some directives like uncompresscmd are parsed but not fully implemented (decompression not needed for rotation)

References