How to Configure Log Rotation in Go

Go does not have a built-in log rotation mechanism; you must configure it using an external tool like logrotate or implement it in your code using the golang.org/x/exp/slog or lumberjack packages. For a standard production setup, configure logrotate to manage your Go application's log files by creating a configuration file at /etc/logrotate.d/your-app with the following content:

/var/log/your-app/*.log {
    daily
    rotate 14
    compress
    delaycompress
    missingok
    notifempty
    create 0640 your-user your-group
    sharedscripts
    postrotate
        /usr/bin/killall -HUP your-app
    endscript
}

This setup rotates logs daily, keeps 14 days of history, compresses old logs, and sends a HUP signal to your Go application to reopen log files.

Log rotation is the process of automatically archiving and deleting old log files to prevent them from filling up your disk. Since Go programs just write to files continuously, you need an external helper to manage the file size and history. Think of it like a librarian who automatically moves old books to the basement and throws away the ones that are too old, so the shelves never get full.