GChuf opened a new issue, #4439:
URL: https://github.com/apache/logging-log4j2/issues/4439
## Description
`CronTriggeringPolicy` with `evaluateOnStartup="true"` can roll over a file
on startup that belongs to the current period, and the next scheduled rollover
then overwrites that archive, losing log data.
## Configuration
**Version:** 2.26.1
**Operating system:** Ubuntu 22
**JDK:** openjdk version "17.0.20.1"
## Logs
```
# 1. Scheduled rollover at 12:59:00
2026-10-29T11:59:00.006636999Z Log4j2-TF-3-Scheduled-1 DEBUG
RollingFileManager executing synchronous FileRenameAction[.../log/artemis.log
to .../log/artemis.log.2026-10-29-12-58, renameEmptyFiles=false]
2026-10-29T11:59:00.007457993Z Log4j2-TF-3-Scheduled-1 DEBUG Now writing to
.../log/artemis.log at 2026-10-29T12:59:00.007+0100
# 2. Restart at 12:59:17: file time aligned to the fire time
2026-10-29T11:59:17.541215287Z main DEBUG Returning file creation time for
.../log/artemis.log
2026-10-29T11:59:17.542106167Z main DEBUG Setting prev file time to
2026-10-29T12:59:00.000+0100
2026-10-29T11:59:17.542293434Z main DEBUG Initializing triggering policy
CronTriggeringPolicy(schedule=0 * * * * ?)
# 3. getPrevFireTime(fileTime) returns 12:58, so an unnecessary rollover
happens on startup
2026-10-29T11:59:17.543433844Z main DEBUG LastRollForFile
2026-10-29T12:58:00.000+0100, LastRegularRole 2026-10-29T12:59:00.000+0100
2026-10-29T11:59:17.549749398Z main DEBUG RollingFileManager executing
synchronous FileRenameAction[.../log/artemis.log to
.../log/artemis.log.2026-10-29-12-59, renameEmptyFiles=false]
2026-10-29T11:59:17.550553423Z main DEBUG Now writing to .../log/artemis.log
at 2026-10-29T12:59:17.550+0100
2026-10-29T11:59:17.551674698Z main DEBUG Log4j2 ConfigurationScheduler
scheduled cron expression 0 * * * * ? to fire at 2026-10-29T13:00:00.000+0100
# 4. Scheduled rollover overwriting artemis.log.2026-10-29-12-59
2026-10-29T12:00:00.006215456Z Log4j2-TF-3-Scheduled-1 DEBUG
RollingFileManager executing synchronous FileRenameAction[.../log/artemis.log
to .../log/artemis.log.2026-10-29-12-59, renameEmptyFiles=false]
2026-10-29T12:00:00.007150513Z Log4j2-TF-3-Scheduled-1 DEBUG Now writing to
.../log/artemis.log at 2026-10-29T13:00:00.007+0100
```
## Reproduction
This happened to me with daily rolling strategy.
I used cron schedule `0 * * * *` to test rolling every minute, to reproduce
and speed up the tests.
`evaluateOnStartup` must be true.
config:
```
appender.log_file.filePattern = /var/log/artemis.log.%d{yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm}
appender.log_file.policies.cron.schedule = 0 * * * * ?
appender.log_file.policies.cron.evaluateOnStartup = true
```
- run "software" (apache artemis), keep producing some sort of content in
logs
- at 12:29:00 the file (artemis.log) is automatically rolled into
artemis.log.2026-10-28-12-58
- artemis.log is now clear, log lines with timestamps newer than 12:59:00
start appearing
- restart "software" (at 12:59:17), file is rolled at startup
(artemis.log.2026-10-28-12-59) - it contains logs from 12:59:00 to 12:59:17
- artemis.log is now clear, log lines with timestamps newer than 12:59:17
start appearing
- at 12:30:00 another roll over happens, overwriting the
artemis.log.2026-10-28-12-59 file with current artemis.log file (data from
12:59:00 to 12:59:17 is lost)
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