EXPIRE(8)EXPIRE(8)NAMEexpire - Usenet article and history expiration program
SYNOPSISexpire [ -d dir ] [ -f file ] [ -g file ] [ -h file ] [ -i
] [ -N ] [ -n ] [ -p ] [ -r reason ] [ -t ] [ -v level ] [
-w number ] [ -x ] [ -z file ] [ expire.ctl ]
DESCRIPTION
Expire scans the history(5) text file <pathdb in
inn.conf>/history and uses the information recorded in it
to purge itself or old news articles. And if the article
whose storage method has self expire functionality, the
control file is ignored except ``/remember/'' line for
that article by default. In this case, expire probes the
article to see if it still exists. If it does not exist,
expire purges the relevant entries. To disable this, use
the ``-N'' flag. If ``groupbaseexpiry'' in inn.conf is
true, expire always treats all stored articles whose stor
age method have self expire functionality regardless of
its actual method. In this case ``-e'', ``-k'', ``-N'',
``-p'', ``-q'', ``-w'' and ``-z'' flags are ignored.
Note that expire never purges articles which do not match
any entry.
OPTIONS-d If the ``-d'' flag is used, then the new history
file and database is created in the specified
directory, dir. This is useful when the filesystem
does not have sufficient space to hold both the old
and new history files. When this flag is used,
expire leaves the server paused and creates a zero-
length file named after the new history file, with
an extension of ``.done'' to indicate that it has
successfully completed the expiration. The calling
script should install the new history file and un-
pause the server. The ``-r'' flag should be used
with this flag. -f To specify an alternate history
file, use the ``-f'' flag. This flag is valid if
``-d'' flag is used together, and the output will
be written to this file. The default without
``-f'' flag is ``history.''
-g If the ``-g'' flag is given, then a one-line sum
mary equivalent to the output of ``-v 1'' and pre
ceded by the current time, will be appended to the
specified file.
-h To specify an alternate input text history file,
use the ``-h'' flag. Expire uses the old dbz(3)
database to determine the size of the new one. If
``-d'' flag is not used together, and the output
file name will be with an extension of ``.n.'' The
default without ``-h'' flag is
<pathdb in inn.conf>/history.
-i To ignore the old database, use the ``-i'' flag.
-N If the article whose storage method has self expire
functionality, then the control file is ignored for
that article by default. If the ``-N'' flag is
used, expire still uses the control file in this
case.
-n If innd is not running, use the ``-n'' flag and
expire will not send the ``pause'' or ``go'' com
mands. (For more details on the commands, see
ctlinnd(8)). Note that expire only needs exclusive
access for a very short time -- long enough to see
if any new articles arrived since it first hit the
end of the file, and to rename the new files to the
working files.
-p Expire makes its decisions on the time the article
arrived, as found in the history file. This means
articles are often kept a little longer than with
other expiration programs that base their decisions
on the article's posting date. To use the arti
cle's posting date, use the ``-p'' flag.
-r Expire normally sends a ``pause'' command to the
local innd(8) daemon when it needs exclusive access
to the history file, using the string ``Expiring''
as the reason. To give a different reason, use the
``-r'' flag. The process ID will be appended to
the reason. When expire is finished and the new
history file is ready, it sends a ``go'' command.
-t If the ``-t'' flag is used, then expire will gener
ate a list of the tokens that should be removed on
its standard output, and the new history file will
be left in history.n, history.n.dir, his_
tory.n.index and history.n.hash. This flag be use
ful for debugging when used with the ``-n'' flags.
Note that if the ``-f'' flag is used, then the name
specified with that flag will be used instead of
history.
-v The ``-v'' flag is used to increase the verbosity
of the program, generating messages to standard
output. The level should be a number, where higher
numbers result in more output. Level one will
print totals of the various actions done (not valid
if a new history file is not written), level two
will print report on each individual file, while
level five results in more than one line of output
for every line processed.
-w Use the ``-w'' flag to ``warp'' time so that expire
thinks it is running at some time other then the
current time. The value should be a signed float
ing point number of the number of days to use as
the offset.
-x If the ``-x'' flag is used, then expire will not
create any new history files. This is most useful
when combined with the ``-n'' and ``-t'' flags to
see how different expiration policies would change
the amount of disk space used.
-z If the ``-z'' flag is used, then articles are not
removed, but their names are appended to the speci
fied file. See the description of delayrm in
news.daily(8).
If a filename is specified, it is taken as the control
file and parsed according to the rules in expire.ctl(5).
A single dash (``-'') may be used to read the file from
standard input. If no file is specified, the file
<pathetc in inn.conf>/expire.ctl is read.
HISTORY
Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNet
News. This is revision 1.19.2.1, dated 2000/08/17.
SEE ALSOctlinnd(8), dbz(3), expire.ctl(5), history(5),
inn.conf(5), innd(8), inndcomm(3).
EXPIRE(8)
