🟡 Medium   ⏱ 5–30 min  Last verified: 20 May 2026
Affected versions: FreeBSD 12

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents
  1. Symptom & Impact
  2. Environment & Reproduction
  3. Root Cause Analysis
  4. Quick Triage
  5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
  6. Solution – Primary Fix
  7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
  8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
  9. Rollback Plan
  10. Prevention & Hardening
  11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
  12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Logs stop updating after rotation, reducing observability and delaying detection of operational incidents.

Environment & Reproduction

newsyslog rotates files successfully, but subsequent events do not appear in newly created log files.

Root Cause Analysis

Missing HUP signal, invalid ownership/permissions on new logs, or incorrect newsyslog flags can prevent reopen.

Quick Triage

Check syslogd PID, inspect file descriptors with fstat, and verify newsyslog post-rotate signaling behavior.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Trace log rotation events and confirm syslogd reopens expected files with correct permissions. image_ref=0

Illustrative mockup for freebsd-12 — terminal_or_shell
Checking syslogd process and open log file descriptors — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Primary Fix

Correct newsyslog configuration and ensure syslogd receives SIGHUP after rotation to reopen file handles. image_ref=1

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Illustrative mockup for freebsd-12 — log_or_config
Reviewing newsyslog.conf and syslog.conf entries — Illustrative mockup — Progressive Robot

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Adopt remote log forwarding to central collectors to reduce dependence on local rotation behavior.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Post-rotation logs continue writing normally and security/application events remain fully captured.

Rollback Plan

Revert to previous newsyslog.conf and restart syslogd if new rotation policies break logging continuity.

Prevention & Hardening

Include log rotation validation in maintenance checklists and monitor for stale file timestamps.

Related symptoms include empty auth.log, unexpected permission denied on log writes, and disk growth due to stale files.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for freebsd-12.

View all freebsd-12 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

See man newsyslog.conf, man syslogd, and FreeBSD logging subsystem documentation.

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