[Question] Is there a way to limit the size of the logs?

[yamrzou]

/kind feature

Is there a way to make sure container logs do not grow indefinitely?
Would it be safe to remove ~/.local/share/containers/storage/overlay-containers/*/userdata/ctr.log while the container is running?

[mheon]

There is a maximum log size for containers, in bytes, defined in containers.conf - it is defaulted to -1, unlimited. I believe setting that should accomplish what you're looking for?

[TomSweeneyRedHat]

If so, this might be a good entry for the troubleshooting guide....

[yamrzou]

Thank you, yes that's should accomplish what I'm looking for.

[rhatdan]

Labeling this as containers.conf, since I should write this up in the forthcoming blog on containers.conf.

[Luap99]

I just want to add that docker uses --log-opt for this. https://docs.docker.com/config/containers/logging/json-file/#options
docker run -it --log-opt max-size=10m --log-opt max-file=3 alpine ash
This might be worth mentioning.

[vrothberg]

@rhatdan, did you add that to the blog? Can we close the issue?

[rhatdan]

I have not written any blogs yet. Too much vacationing.

[rhatdan]

I opened this related PR. containers/conmon#211

[pmoogi-redhat]

Hello @rhatdan . For my simulations on log-loss i needed to change limit on log size - so created changes in my branch as master...pmoogi-redhat:supportforlogsizemax for enabling --log-opt max-size=xx option. It is found working fine as expected. i did some validation on log files written onto disk. This is my first change to podman repo. Kindly let me know if PR can be submitted here reflecting this change in case you find it useful and if it doesn't hurt other modules which are dependent on this repo.

[mheon]

That change looks fine on the whole, feel free to make a PR and we can see about getting it landed.

[rhatdan]

Yes @pmoogi-redhat Open a PR.