how to give read access to logs

Hi,

How can i give read access to logs for other users? Perhaps the solution is to set group for this files and add some users there. But how to do that for /var/log/maillog? I mean, logrotate will reset perms? If i change group from root to another won't it generate any problems?

Actual state: -rw------- 1 root root 337M kwi 22 15:40 maillog

From serverfault

• You can add an entry to /etc/logrotate.conf or wherever your config for the particular log is (most likely in /etc/logrotate.d/<blah>)

  create 0664 root utmp

  This tells logrotate to create a new log with 664 permissions and make it owned by user root and group utmp.

  You will probably want something like create 0644 root root, unless you only want a specific group to have read access. in that case make it create 0640 root <your group>

  From solefald

• What syslog engine are you using? syslog-ng may be handling file permissions.

  You will have lines such as:

  # Default permissions
  options { perm(0640); }; 
  
  # Custom file target
  destination localmessages { file("/var/log/localmessages" perm(0644)); };
  

  If you're using syslog-ng, use its capabilities to set your logfile permissions in general.

  If you need specific things (i.e. fred needs to see /var/log/mail) I recommend using sudo instead.

  From MikeyB

• Thanks for all answers, i have used sudo and it works brilliant. Something like that:

  user1, user2, user3 ALL=NOPASSWD: /bin/cat /var/log/maillog

  rgrds

  From