Here's what I'm using to rotate logs on my new shiny website: 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
$|++;

### Processed automatically at 10:29:34 21-Jun-2002 from              
+     ###
### sbin/log-roller.tmpl edited at 07:58:15 17-May-2002               
+     ###

my $PIDFILE = "/web/stonehenge/var/run/httpd.pid";
my @LOGS = glob("/web/stonehenge/var/log/*_log");

## first, compress any old log files

if (my @OLDLOGS = grep -M > 7, glob("/web/stonehenge/var/log/*[0-9]"))
+ {
  system 'gzip', '-9', @OLDLOGS;
}

## then, get the PID

open PIDFILE, $PIDFILE or die "Cannot open $PIDFILE: $!";
chomp(my $pid = <PIDFILE>);
close PIDFILE;
$pid =~ /\d+/ or die "$pid doesn't look like a pid from $PIDFILE";

## now roll the logs

{
  local *ARGV;
  local $^I = "." . time;
  @ARGV = @LOGS;
  close ARGV while <>;          # quick rename while emptying
}

## finally, let Apache know we've messed around

kill 'USR1', $pid or warn "Cannot send USR1 to $pid: $!";

[download]
That last step is critical. There must be some way to let the writer know that the file they have open is now a new file.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

In reply to •Re: File tracking by merlyn
in thread File tracking by r

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.