logrotate:tldr:ca861

The command logrotate is a Linux utility used for managing and rotating log files on a system. It is typically executed as a cron job to automate log file rotation.

In the command you provided, logrotate is the executable being invoked. ${path-to-logrotate-conf} is a placeholder for the actual path to the logrotate configuration file. This configuration file specifies the log files to be rotated, the rotation criteria, and any other settings.

The --skip-state-lock option is used to override the default behavior of logrotate, which is to acquire and hold an exclusive lock on the state file during rotation. The state file keeps track of log files that have already been rotated, so logrotate knows where to start rotating from. By skipping the state lock, logrotate will perform the rotation even if another instance of logrotate is already running.

This option can be useful in certain scenarios, such as when you want to manually rotate log files outside of the regular logrotate schedules, or when troubleshooting issues with log rotation. However, it should be used with caution to avoid potential conflicts or inconsistencies.