diff --git a/basic-system/defaults/main.yml b/basic-system/defaults/main.yml
index 262bb4ae1d8108d84e5dc57e1f5b5273b10c4395..70f052396f56d79f536f441c60f7f994b4b0d23b 100644
--- a/basic-system/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/basic-system/defaults/main.yml
@@ -7,4 +7,6 @@ etckeeper: true
 rsyslog_needed: false
 hosts_precious: false
 journal_persitent_with_package: true
+logrotate_period: 'daily'  # 'weekly' is newer default
+logrotate_backlogs: 7  # default is 7 for daily, 4 for weekly
 common_sysctl_file: '/etc/sysctl.conf'
diff --git a/basic-system/templates/logrotate.conf.j2 b/basic-system/templates/logrotate.conf.j2
index 2be8fd5c7b8c4bfe8edf52150d96df9343ea9a70..b25502e9588be402b1b527f4a67389af5811a8c1 100644
--- a/basic-system/templates/logrotate.conf.j2
+++ b/basic-system/templates/logrotate.conf.j2
@@ -1,13 +1,19 @@
 # see "man logrotate" for details
-# rotate log files daily
-daily
 
-# keep 7 days worth of backlogs
-rotate 7
+# global options do not affect preceding include directives
+
+# rotate log files {{ logrotate_period }}
+{{ logrotate_period }}
+
+# keep {{ logrotate_backlogs }} {{ 'weeks' if logrotate_period == 'weekly' else 'days' }} worth of backlogs
+rotate {{ logrotate_backlogs }}
 
 # create new (empty) log files after rotating old ones
 create
 
+# use date as a suffix of the rotated file
+#dateext
+
 # uncomment this if you want your log files compressed
 compress
 delaycompress
@@ -15,7 +21,7 @@ delaycompress
 # packages drop log rotation information into this directory
 include /etc/logrotate.d
 
-{% if ansible_distribution_major_version|int < 10 %}
+{% if ansible_distribution_major_version|int(default=99) < 10 %}
 # no packages own wtmp, or btmp -- we'll rotate them here
 /var/log/wtmp {
     missingok
@@ -32,4 +38,4 @@ include /etc/logrotate.d
 }
 {% endif %}
 
-# system-specific logs may be configured here
+# system-specific logs may also be configured here.