---
title: "Feature: #100926 - Introduce RotatingFileWriter for log rotation"
manual: "TYPO3 Core Changelog"
version: "main"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/changelog:feature-100926-1685267155"
source: "Changelog/13.0/Feature-100926-IntroduceRotatingFileWriterforLogRotation.rst"
modified: "2026-09-15T10:46:36+00:00"
---

# Feature: #100926 - Introduce `RotatingFileWriter` for log rotation

See [forge#100926](https://forge.typo3.org/issues/100926)

## Description

TYPO3 log files tend to grow over time, if not manually cleaned on a regular
basis, potentially leading to full disks. Also, reading its contents may be
hard when several weeks of log entries are printed as a wall of text.

To circumvent such issues, established tools like `logrotate` are available for
a long time already. However, TYPO3 may be installed on a hosting environment
where `logrotate` is not available and cannot be installed by the customer.
To cover such cases, a simple log rotation approach has been implemented,
following the "copytruncate" approach: when rotating files, the currently
opened log file is copied (for example, to `typo3_[hash].log.20230616094812`) and
the original log file is emptied. This saves the hassle with properly
closing and re-creating open file handles.

A new file writer `\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\RotatingFileWriter` has been
added, which extends the already existing
`\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\FileWriter` class. The
`RotatingFileWriter` accepts all options of `FileWriter` in addition
of the following:

-   `interval` \- how often logs should be rotated, can be any of

    -   `daily` or `\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\Enum\Interval::DAILY` (default)
    -   `weekly` or `\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\Enum\Interval::WEEKLY`
    -   `monthly` or `\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\Enum\Interval::MONTHLY`
    -   `yearly` or `\TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\Enum\Interval::YEARLY`
-   `maxFiles` \- how many files should be retained (by default `5` files, `0` never deletes any file)

The `RotatingFileWriter` is configured like any other log writer.

> [!NOTE]
> When configuring `RotatingFileWriter` in `system/settings.php`,
> the string representations of the `Interval` must be used for the
> `interval` option, as otherwise this might break the Install Tool.

### Example

The following example introduces log rotation for the "main" log file.

**system/additional.php**

```php
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['LOG']['TYPO3']['CMS']['Core']['Resource']['ResourceStorage']['writerConfiguration'][\Psr\Log\LogLevel::ERROR] = [
    \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\RotatingFileWriter::class => [
        'interval' => \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\Enum\Interval::DAILY,
        'maxFiles' => 5,
    ],
    \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\DatabaseWriter::class => [], // this is part of the default configuration
];
```

The following example introduces log rotation for the "deprecation" log file.

**system/additional.php**

```php
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['LOG']['TYPO3']['CMS']['deprecations']['writerConfiguration'][\Psr\Log\LogLevel::NOTICE] = [
    \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\RotatingFileWriter::class => [
        'logFileInfix' => 'deprecations',
        'interval' => \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\Enum\Interval::WEEKLY,
        'maxFiles' => 4,
        'disabled' => false,
    ],
    \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\DatabaseWriter::class => [], // this is part of the default configuration
];
```

## Impact

When configured, log files may be rotated before writing a new log entry,
depending on the configured `interval`, where `Interval::DAILY` is the
default. When rotating, the log files are suffixed with a rotation incremental
value.

Example:

**Directory listing of `var/log/` with rotated logs**

```console
$ ls -1 var/log
typo3_[hash].log
typo3_[hash].log.20230613065902
typo3_[hash].log.20230614084723
typo3_[hash].log.20230615084756
typo3_[hash].log.20230616094812
```

If `maxFiles` is configured with a value greater than `0`, any exceeding
log file is removed.