File::Rotate(3pm)					User Contributed Perl Documentation					 File::Rotate(3pm)

NAME

       Log::Agent::File::Rotate - a rotating logfile set

SYNOPSIS

	#
	# This class is not user-visible.
	#
	# It is documented only for programmers wishing to inherit
	# from it to further extend its behaviour.
	#

	require Log::Agent::Driver::File;
	require Log::Agent::Rotate;
	require Log::Agent::File::Rotate;

	my $config = Log::Agent::Rotate->make(...);
	my $driver = Log::Agent::Driver::File->make(...);
	my $fh = Log::Agent::File::Rotate->make("file", $config, $driver);

DESCRIPTION

       This class represents a rotating logfile and is used drivers wishing to rotate their logfiles periodically.  From the outside, it exports a
       single "print" routine, just like "Log::Agent::File::Native".

       Internally, it uses the parameters given by a "Log::Agent::Rotate" object to transparently close the current logfile and cycle the older
       logs.

       Before rotating the current logfile, the string:

	   *** LOGFILE ROTATED ON <local date>

       is emitted, so that people monitoring the file via "tail -f" know about it and are not surprised by the sudden stop of messages.

       Its exported interface is:

       make file, config
	   This is the creation routine.  The config object is an instance of "Log::Agent::Rotate".

       print args
	   Prints args to the file.  After having printed the data, monitor the file against the thresholds defined in the configuration, and
	   possibly rotate the logfiles according to the parameters held in the same configuration object.

	   When the "is_alone" flag is not set in the configuration, the logfile is checked everytime a "print" is issued to see if its inode
	   changed.  Indeed, when several instances of the same program using rotating logfiles are running, each of them may decide to cycle the
	   logs at some point in time, and therefore our opened handle could point to an already renamed or unlinked file.

AUTHORS

       Originally written by Raphael Manfredi <Raphael_Manfredi@pobox.com>, currently maintained by Mark Rogaski <mrogaski@pobox.com>.

SEE ALSO

       Log::Agent::Rotate(3), Log::Agent::Driver::File(3).

perl v5.10.0							    2002-05-14							 File::Rotate(3pm)