Bug 638591

Summary: Ambiguity in logrotate man page (definition of "size" parameter)
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Reporter: Stanislas RENAN <rhn>
Component: logrotateAssignee: Jan Kaluža <jkaluza>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact: qe-baseos-daemons
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: 5.3CC: azelinka, ovasik, tsmetana
Target Milestone: rcKeywords: ManPageChange
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: logrotate-3.7.4-12 Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of:
: 638625 638629 (view as bug list) Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-05-18 14:58:39 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On:    
Bug Blocks: 638625, 638629, 659713    
Attachments:
Description Flags
proposed patch none

Description Stanislas RENAN 2010-09-29 12:50:00 UTC 
The definition of "size" parameter is ambiguous.

It is defined as :
"Log files are rotated when they grow bigger then size bytes."

It appears the the behaviour is :
"Log files are rotated only if they grow bigger then size bytes."


First definition does not mean that if the file size is below _size_ bytes, it won't be rotated.
Second definition means that if the file size is below _size_ bytes, it won't be rotated.

I find the second definition less confusing and closer to the actual behaviour of logrotate.

I think that the "minsize" parameter may also benefit from a disambiguation.
Comment 1 Jan Kaluža 2010-09-29 14:35:15 UTC 
Created attachment 450489 [details]
proposed patch
Comment 2 Jan Kaluža 2010-09-29 14:36:06 UTC 
Thank you. Attached patch corrects the man page.
Comment 3 RHEL Program Management 2011-01-11 20:38:00 UTC 
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for
inclusion in the current release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Because the affected component is not scheduled to be updated in the
current release, Red Hat is unfortunately unable to address this
request at this time. Red Hat invites you to ask your support
representative to propose this request, if appropriate and relevant,
in the next release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Comment 4 RHEL Program Management 2011-01-11 23:01:55 UTC 
This request was erroneously denied for the current release of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux.  The error has been fixed and this
request has been re-proposed for the current release.
Comment 9 errata-xmlrpc 2011-05-18 14:58:39 UTC 
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem
described in this bug report. This report is therefore being
closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information
on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files,
please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report
if the solution does not work for you.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2011-0816.html