nginx error log was huge, so I deleted and created a new one, now nginx won't start

Question

I deleted the /var/log/nginx/error.log file, and then created a new one using:

sudo nano error.log

Doing ls -la shows that the error.log and access.log have the same permissions.

When I try and start nginx I get the error:

alert: could not open error log file: open() "/var/log/nginx/error.log" failed permission denited.

Update

When trying to start nginx, I am also seeing:

emerg: /var/run/nginx.pid failed 13: permission denied.

Delete the Log and restart or reload Nginx. It will automatically create the Log. — Khubaib Raza, Nov 26 '20 at 12:24

score 28 · Accepted Answer · answered May 31 '10 at 20:50

28

This doesn't solve your problem, but in the future, if you do

cat /dev/null > /file/you/want/to/wipe-out

you will copy over the contents of the file with nothing, and keep all permissions in tact.

Not nginx-speicific, but Additionally, make sure you are running the application as the user it is supposed to run as. If you ever ran it as root, all the permissions are going to be owned by root, so other users won't be able to run it.

answered May 31 '10 at 20:50

Alex

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How is it different from using `echo "" > /file/to/empty`? Are they both the same? – Gowtham Dec 18 '16 at 09:18
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That should be the same. Additionally, you can leave out all the stuff at the beginning and just do `> /file/to/empty` – Alex Dec 20 '16 at 16:55

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 24 '10 at 16:05

7

The usual way to rotate the logs with NginX is to rename the file, and then /etc/init.d/nginx reload. The server starts a new file, and you can do what you wish with the old.

You may also find it useful to edit the configuration to not log as much....

answered Jul 24 '10 at 16:05

Alister Bulman

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 25 '20 at 14:44

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To re-size the file to 0 bytes, without having to re-load or re-start nginx, use the truncate command:

sudo truncate --size 0 /var/log/nginx/access.log

Followed the guidance of this post due to my use case requiring the use of sudo.

answered Nov 25 '20 at 14:44

Tranzium

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Thanks. This helped – Promise Preston Apr 24 '23 at 07:09

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 31 '10 at 20:04

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have a look in the nginx config, check who the server is running as - at a guess the user will be nginx

so :

chown nginx: /var/run/nginx.pid chown -R nginx: /var/log/nginx

Should do the trick.

answered May 31 '10 at 20:04

Geraint Jones

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but why was it working before? – Blankman Jun 01 '10 at 01:40
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I suspect because you tried to run it as root, and then tried starting it with its init script. – Geraint Jones Jun 01 '10 at 03:21
well I always start it like that, hmm.... – Blankman Jun 01 '10 at 09:51
nginx.conf says: "user www-data" – Blankman Jun 01 '10 at 09:54

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 31 '10 at 19:30

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Delete the error.log file and nginx will create it itself.

answered May 31 '10 at 19:30

Martin Fjordvald

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i deleted it, then when I try and start nginx is gives me the same permission denied error on the file /var/log/nginx/error.log – Blankman May 31 '10 at 19:45
Delete the Log and restart Nginx. It will automatically create the Log. – WhiteHorse Mar 06 '16 at 18:45

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 31 '10 at 19:39

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First try deleting the file, if that doesn't work check that the nobody user has the right permissions:
http://derekneely.com/2009/06/nginx-failed-13-permission-denied-while-reading-upstream/

answered May 31 '10 at 19:39

emmanuel

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nginx error log was huge, so I deleted and created a new one, now nginx won't start

6 Answers6