Access log won't log after replacing with a new log file

Question

I'm trying to phrase access log files on my Nginx server.

For phrasing the file, I simply rename the original access log file and create a new access log file immediately so I won't miss anything.

But after replacing the file, Nginx won't log anything onto that file but works until I replace the file.

Nginx start logging again to the replaced file after I restart Nginx.

I can not see what I'm doing wrong, any help?

First bit of the PHP code

if(rename("access.log", $tempname)){ // I'm renaming the access log file
    $fp = fopen("access.log","wb"); 
    if( $fp == false ){

    }else{
        fwrite($fp,$content); // I'm creating a new access log file
        fclose($fp);
    }
    // I'm phrasing the renamed file here
}

Answer 1

As I said in my comments it probably not possible to remove the file due to the nature of nginx, my suggestion would be using the same approach, but without actually removing the log file. Instead just clear it.

Pseudo Code

file = open "nginx.log", READ
new_file = open tmpname, WRITE
new_file.write file.contents
file.close
new_file.close
sys_command "cat /dev/null > nginx.log"

Or using a script

#!/bin/bash
cp nginx.log nginx.backup.log
cat /dev/null > nginx.log

This way you are not destroying the file and the file handle that nginx has will still be valid.