Changing active log files for vsftpd after log rotation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 does not work properly

Issue

• When logrotate rotates the vsftpd log (/var/log/vsftpd.log or /var/log/xferlog), the new log file isn't used by any current connections.

• Method of reproduction:

  • Install vsftpd-2.0.5-16.el5_4.1.x86_64.rpm
  • Make sure the following settings are set in /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
  • xferlog_enable=YES
  • xferlog_file=/var/log/xferlog
  • xferlog_std_format=YES
  • Start or restart the vsftpd service
  • Open an ftp connection to the server
  • Use put to put a file (e.g. foo1) on the server; verify that this is logged in /var/log/xferlog
  • Run logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.conf
  • Use put to upload another file (e.g. foo2) on the server; the log will still go to /var/log/xferlog.1 rather than the new /var/log/xferlog