root@sles8:~ # cat /etc/*release
SuSE SLES-8 (i386)
VERSION = 8.1
UnitedLinux 1.0 (i586)
VERSION = 1.0
LSB_VERSION=”1.2″
DISTRIB_ID=”UnitedLinux”
DISTRIB_RELEASE=”1.0″
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION=”UnitedLinux 1.0 (i586)”

I tried to start logrotate for syslog but I got an error

root@sles8:~ # logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/syslog
error: error reading top line of /var/lib/logrotate.status

Move the file with the error

root@sles8:~ # mv /var/lib/logrotate.status /var/lib/logrotate.status.bak

And run logrotate to verify the configuration

root@sles8:~ # logrotate -fv /etc/logrotate.conf
reading config file /etc/logrotate.conf
including /etc/logrotate.d
reading config file mon
reading config info for /var/log/downtime.log
reading config info for /var/log/mon_history.log
reading config file acct
reading config info for /var/account/pacct
reading config file uucp
reading config info for /var/log/uucp/Log /var/log/uucp/Stats
reading config info for /var/log/uucp/Debug
reading config file radiusd
reading config info for /var/log/radius/radius.log
reading config info for /var/log/radius/radwatch.log
reading config info for /var/log/radius/radwtmp
reading config file aaa_base
reading config info for /var/log/mgetty.*
reading config info for /var/log/vgetty.*
reading config info for /var/log/vbox.tty*
reading config info for /var/adm/isdn.log
reading config info for /var/lib/xdm/xdm-errors
reading config info for /var/log/debug
reading config info for /var/log/isdn
reading config info for /var/log/isdn.log
reading config info for /var/log/isdncalls
reading config info for /var/log/log.ceptd
reading config info for /var/log/samba/log.nmbd
reading config info for /var/log/samba/log.smbd
reading config info for /var/log/samba/log.winbindd
reading config info for /var/log/maillog
reading config info for /var/log/ntp
reading config info for /var/log/pop3svr.log
reading config info for /var/log/pvf.log
reading config info for /var/log/rinetd.log
reading config info for /var/log/rsyncd.log
reading config info for /var/log/wtmp
reading config info for /var/log/xdm.errors
reading config info for /var/log/xferlog
reading config info for /var/log/radius.log
reading config info for /var/log/radwatch.log
reading config info for /var/log/radwtmp
reading config file ldirectord
reading config info for /var/log/ldirectord.log
reading config file mysql
reading config info for /var/lib/mysql/mysqld.log
reading config file squid
reading config info for /var/log/squid/cache.log
reading config info for /var/log/squid/access.log
reading config info for /var/log/squid/store.log
reading config file heartbeat
reading config info for /var/log/ha-debug
reading config info for /var/log/ha-log
reading config file apache
reading config info for /var/log/httpd/access_log
reading config info for /var/log/httpd/error_log
reading config info for /var/log/httpd/suexec.log
reading config info for /var/log/httpd/ssl_request_log
reading config info for /var/log/httpd/ssl_engine_log
reading config file syslog
reading config info for /var/log/mail /var/log/warn /var/log/messages /var/log/allmessages /var /log/localmessages /var/log/firewall
reading config file fetchmail
reading config info for /var/log/fetchmail
reading config file sddsrv_log.d
reading config info for /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log
reading config info for /var/log/sdd_bak.log
reading config file postgresql
reading config info for /var/log/postgresql
Handling 50 logs
rotating pattern: /var/log/downtime.log forced from command line (4 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/downtime.log
log needs rotating
renaming /var/log/downtime.log.4 to /var/log/downtime.log.5
old log /var/log/downtime.log.4 does not exist
renaming /var/log/downtime.log.3 to /var/log/downtime.log.4
old log /var/log/downtime.log.3 does not exist
renaming /var/log/downtime.log.2 to /var/log/downtime.log.3
old log /var/log/downtime.log.2 does not exist
renaming /var/log/downtime.log.1 to /var/log/downtime.log.2
file /var/log/downtime.log.5 doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/downtime.log to /var/log/downtime.log.1
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
rotating pattern: /var/log/mon_history.log forced from command line (4 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/mon_history.log
log does not need rotating
rotating pattern: /var/account/pacct forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/account/pacct
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/account/pacct to /var/account/pacct-20140205
creating new log mode = 0640 uid = 0 gid = 0
running postrotate script
Reload process accountingShutting down process accounting done
Starting process accounting done
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/account/pacct-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/uucp/Log /var/log/uucp/Stats forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/uucp/Log
file /var/log/uucp/Log does not exist — skipping
rotating file /var/log/uucp/Stats
file /var/log/uucp/Stats does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/uucp/Debug forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/uucp/Debug
file /var/log/uucp/Debug does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/radius/radius.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/radius/radius.log
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/radius/radius.log to /var/log/radius/radius.log-20140205
creating new log mode = 0640 uid = 0 gid = 0
running postrotate script
Reload service radiusd failed
error running postrotate script
rotating pattern: /var/log/radius/radwatch.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/radius/radwatch.log
file /var/log/radius/radwatch.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/radius/radwtmp forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/radius/radwtmp
file /var/log/radius/radwtmp does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/mgetty.* forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/mgetty.*
file /var/log/mgetty.* does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/vgetty.* forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/vgetty.*
file /var/log/vgetty.* does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/vbox.tty* forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/vbox.tty*
file /var/log/vbox.tty* does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/adm/isdn.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/adm/isdn.log
file /var/adm/isdn.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/lib/xdm/xdm-errors forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/lib/xdm/xdm-errors
file /var/lib/xdm/xdm-errors does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/debug forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/debug
file /var/log/debug does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/isdn forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/isdn
file /var/log/isdn does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/isdn.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/isdn.log
file /var/log/isdn.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/isdncalls forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/isdncalls
file /var/log/isdncalls does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/log.ceptd forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/log.ceptd
file /var/log/log.ceptd does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/samba/log.nmbd forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/samba/log.nmbd
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
copying /var/log/samba/log.nmbd to /var/log/samba/log.nmbd-20140205
truncating /var/log/samba/log.nmbd
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/samba/log.nmbd-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/samba/log.smbd forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/samba/log.smbd
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
copying /var/log/samba/log.smbd to /var/log/samba/log.smbd-20140205
truncating /var/log/samba/log.smbd
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/samba/log.smbd-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/samba/log.winbindd forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/samba/log.winbindd
file /var/log/samba/log.winbindd does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/maillog forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/maillog
file /var/log/maillog does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/ntp forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/ntp
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
copying /var/log/ntp to /var/log/ntp-20140205
truncating /var/log/ntp
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/ntp-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/pop3svr.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/pop3svr.log
file /var/log/pop3svr.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/pvf.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/pvf.log
file /var/log/pvf.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/rinetd.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/rinetd.log
file /var/log/rinetd.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/rsyncd.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/rsyncd.log
file /var/log/rsyncd.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/wtmp forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/wtmp
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
copying /var/log/wtmp to /var/log/wtmp-20140205
truncating /var/log/wtmp
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/wtmp-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/xdm.errors forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/xdm.errors
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
copying /var/log/xdm.errors to /var/log/xdm.errors-20140205
truncating /var/log/xdm.errors
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/xdm.errors-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/xferlog forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/xferlog
file /var/log/xferlog does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/radius.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/radius.log
file /var/log/radius.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/radwatch.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/radwatch.log
file /var/log/radwatch.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/radwtmp forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/radwtmp
file /var/log/radwtmp does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/ldirectord.log forced from command line (4 rotations)
empty log files are rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/ldirectord.log
log needs rotating
renaming /var/log/ldirectord.log.4 to /var/log/ldirectord.log.5
renaming /var/log/ldirectord.log.3 to /var/log/ldirectord.log.4
renaming /var/log/ldirectord.log.2 to /var/log/ldirectord.log.3
renaming /var/log/ldirectord.log.1 to /var/log/ldirectord.log.2
renaming /var/log/ldirectord.log to /var/log/ldirectord.log.1
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
removing old log /var/log/ldirectord.log.5
rotating pattern: /var/lib/mysql/mysqld.log forced from command line (3 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/lib/mysql/mysqld.log
log needs rotating
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/lib/mysql/mysqld.log to /var/lib/mysql/mysqld.log-20140205
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 60 gid = 0
running postrotate script
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/lib/mysql/mysqld.log-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/squid/cache.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/squid/cache.log
file /var/log/squid/cache.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/squid/access.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/squid/access.log
file /var/log/squid/access.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/squid/store.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/squid/store.log
file /var/log/squid/store.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/ha-debug forced from command line (4 rotations)
empty log files are rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/ha-debug
file /var/log/ha-debug does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/ha-log forced from command line (4 rotations)
empty log files are rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/ha-log
file /var/log/ha-log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/httpd/access_log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/httpd/access_log
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/httpd/access_log to /var/log/httpd/access_log-20140205
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
running postrotate script
Mailman PERL PHP4 Python Reload httpd done
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/httpd/access_log-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/httpd/error_log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/httpd/error_log
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/httpd/error_log to /var/log/httpd/error_log-20140205
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
running postrotate script
Mailman PERL PHP4 Python Reload httpd done
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/httpd/error_log-20140205’
rotating pattern: /var/log/httpd/suexec.log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/httpd/suexec.log
file /var/log/httpd/suexec.log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/httpd/ssl_request_log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/httpd/ssl_request_log
file /var/log/httpd/ssl_request_log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/httpd/ssl_engine_log forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/httpd/ssl_engine_log
file /var/log/httpd/ssl_engine_log does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/mail /var/log/warn /var/log/messages /var/log/allmessages /var/log/localmessages /var/log/firewall forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/mail
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/mail to /var/log/mail-20140205
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/mail-20140205’
rotating file /var/log/warn
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/warn to /var/log/warn-20140205
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/warn-20140205’
rotating file /var/log/messages
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/messages to /var/log/messages-20140205
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/messages-20140205’
rotating file /var/log/allmessages
file /var/log/allmessages does not exist — skipping
rotating file /var/log/localmessages
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/localmessages to /var/log/localmessages-20140205
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/localmessages-20140205’
rotating file /var/log/firewall
file /var/log/firewall does not exist — skipping
running shared postrotate script
Reload syslog service done
rotating pattern: /var/log/fetchmail forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/fetchmail
file /var/log/fetchmail does not exist — skipping
rotating pattern: /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log forced from command line (6 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log
log needs rotating
renaming /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.6.gz to /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.7.gz
old log /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.6.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.5.gz to /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.6.gz
old log /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.5.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.4.gz to /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.5.gz
old log /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.4.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.3.gz to /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.4.gz
old log /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.3.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.2.gz to /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.3.gz
old log /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.2.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.1.gz to /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.2.gz
old log /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.1.gz does not exist
file /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.7.gz doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log to /var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.1
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/sddsrv_bak.log.1’
rotating pattern: /var/log/sdd_bak.log forced from command line (6 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/sdd_bak.log
log needs rotating
renaming /var/log/sdd_bak.log.6.gz to /var/log/sdd_bak.log.7.gz
old log /var/log/sdd_bak.log.6.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sdd_bak.log.5.gz to /var/log/sdd_bak.log.6.gz
old log /var/log/sdd_bak.log.5.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sdd_bak.log.4.gz to /var/log/sdd_bak.log.5.gz
old log /var/log/sdd_bak.log.4.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sdd_bak.log.3.gz to /var/log/sdd_bak.log.4.gz
old log /var/log/sdd_bak.log.3.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sdd_bak.log.2.gz to /var/log/sdd_bak.log.3.gz
old log /var/log/sdd_bak.log.2.gz does not exist
renaming /var/log/sdd_bak.log.1.gz to /var/log/sdd_bak.log.2.gz
old log /var/log/sdd_bak.log.1.gz does not exist
file /var/log/sdd_bak.log.7.gz doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
renaming /var/log/sdd_bak.log to /var/log/sdd_bak.log.1
creating new log mode = 0644 uid = 0 gid = 0
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/sdd_bak.log.1’
rotating pattern: /var/log/postgresql forced from command line (99 rotations)
empty log files are not rotated old logs are removed
rotating file /var/log/postgresql
log needs rotating
glob finding old rotated logs failed
file (null) doesn’t exist — won’t try dispose of it
copying /var/log/postgresql to /var/log/postgresql-20140205
truncating /var/log/postgresql
compressing new log with: /bin/gzip -9 ‘/var/log/postgresql-20140205’

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