Efficient log file management is a critical aspect of system administration to ensure applications run smoothly without logs consuming disk space. Logrotate, a popular tool, automates the compression and rotation of log files. However, administrators may face challenges when logrotate encounters errors, such as the “read-only file system,” preventing it from renaming or rotating log files. In this guide, we focus on resolving Logrotate’s “Read-Only File System” error effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a recent case, while performing log rotation on logs, the following error message appeared in the system logs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
error: error renaming \/usr\/local\/php81\/var\/log\/php-fpm.log.30.gz to \/usr\/local\/php74\/var\/log\/php-fpm.log.31.gz: Read-only file system<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThis error indicated that logrotate was unable to modify or rotate log files because the target filesystem was mounted as read-only. This could happen due to various reasons, such as system configuration issues, file system corruption, or system maintenance procedures that temporarily set file systems to read-only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Solution<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nTo resolve this issue, we needed to ensure that logrotate had the appropriate write permissions to modify and rotate logs in the specified directories. The solution involved modifying the logrotate.service<\/strong> configuration file to explicitly grant read-write access to the directories where the logs were stored.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEdit the logrotate service file, Open the service file using the following command:<\/h2>\n\n\n\nsudo vim \/lib\/systemd\/system\/logrotate.service<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAdd the line ReadWritePaths <\/strong>directive at the bottom of the service file to grant write access to the relevant log directories. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\nReadWritePaths=\/usr\/local\/php81\/var\/log\/<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAfter saving the file, reload the systemd configuration to apply the changes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl daemon-reload<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nFinally, restart the logrotate service:<\/h2>\n\n\n\nsudo systemctl restart logrotate<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nTo ensure there were no errors after restarting the service, check the status<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl status logrotate<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nConclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nBy adding the ReadWritePaths directive to the logrotate.service file, we successfully resolved the “Read-Only File System” error, allowing logrotate to continue managing and rotating log files. If you’re facing similar issues, this method can assist in resolving Logrotate’s “Read-Only File System” error and restoring proper log file management in your environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n