How can I get log4j to delete old rotating log files?

Question

How can I get log4j to delete old rotating log files? I know I can set up automated jobs (cron for UNIX and scheduled task for Windows), but I want it cross platform, and I

Answer 1

Logs rotate for a reason, so that you only keep so many log files around. In log4j.xml you can add this to your node:

The value tells log4j.xml to only keep 20 rotated log files around. You can limit this to 5 if you want or even 1. If your application isn't logging that much data, and you have 20 log files spanning the last 8 months, but you only need a weeks worth of logs, then I think you need to tweak your log4j.xml "MaxBackupIndex" and "MaxFileSize" params.

Alternatively, if you are using a properties file (instead of the xml) and wish to save 15 files (for example)

log4j.appender.[appenderName].MaxBackupIndex = 15