4 expire \- Usenet article and history expiration program
58 .IR history (5)-format
60 .I <pathdb in inn.conf>/history
61 and uses the information recorded in it to purge itself of old news articles.
62 Articles stored using a storage method that has self-expire
63 functionality are by default not affected by
65 primary behavior (but see the ``\fB\-N\fP'' flag to disable this). In
68 is ignored except ``/remember/'' line for that article;
70 does still probe to see if the article still exists and purges the
71 relevant history and overview entries if appropriate.
72 However, if ``groupbaseexpiry'' in
76 acts on all articles as specified by
78 regardless of whether their storage methods have self-expire
79 functionality. In this case, the ``\fB\-e\fP'', \&``\fB\-k\fP'',
80 ``\fB\-N\fP'', ``\fB\-p\fP'', ``\fB\-q\fP'', ``\fB\-w\fP'' and
81 ``\fB\-z\fP'' flags are ignored.
85 never purges articles which do not match any entry in
90 If the ``\fB\-d\fP'' flag is used, then the new history file and database is
91 created in the specified directory,
93 This is useful when the filesystem does not have sufficient space to
94 hold both the old and new history files.
95 When this flag is used,
97 leaves the server paused and creates a zero-length file named after the
98 new history file, with an extension of ``.done'' to indicate that
99 it has successfully completed the expiration.
100 The calling script should install the new history file and un-pause the server.
101 The ``\fB\-r\fP'' flag should be used with this flag.
104 To specify an alternate history file, use the ``\fB\-f\fP'' flag.
105 This flag is valid when used with the ``\fB\-d\fP'', and the output will
106 be written to the specified file.
107 The default without ``\fB\-f\fP'' flag is ``history''.
110 If the ``\fB\-g\fP'' flag is given, then a one-line summary equivalent to the
111 output of ``\fB\-v\fP 1'', except preceded by the current time, will be
112 appended to the specified
116 To specify an alternate input text history file, use the ``\fB\-h\fP'' flag.
120 database to determine the size of the new one.
121 (If ``\fB\-d\fP'' flag is not used, the output filename will be the same
122 as the input filename with an extension of ``.n''.)
123 The default without ``\fB\-h\fP'' flag is
124 .IR <pathdb\ in\ inn.conf>/history .
127 To ignore the old database, use the ``\fB\-i\fP'' flag.
130 The control file is normally ignored for articles in storage methods
131 which have self-expire functionality.
132 If the ``\fB\-N\fP'' flag is used,
134 still uses the control file for these articles.
139 is not running, use the ``\fB\-n\fP'' flag and
141 will not send the ``pause'' or ``go'' commands.
142 (For more details on the commands, see
146 only needs exclusive access for a very short time \(em long enough to see
147 if any new articles arrived since it first hit the end of the file, and to
148 rename the new files to the working files.
152 makes its decisions on the time the article arrived, as found in the
155 This means articles are often kept a little longer than with other
156 expiration programs that base their decisions on the article's posting
158 To use the article's posting date, use the ``\fB\-p\fP'' flag.
162 normally sends a ``pause'' command to the local
164 daemon when it needs exclusive access to the history file, using
165 the string ``Expiring'' as the reason.
166 To give a different reason, use the ``\fB\-r\fP'' flag.
167 The process ID will be appended to the reason.
170 is finished and the new history file is ready, it sends a ``go'' command.
171 See also the ``\fB\-n\fP'' flag.
174 Optimize the new history database for approximately
178 Accurately specifying the size will create a more efficient database.
179 (The size should be the estimated eventual size of the file, typically
180 the size of the old file.)
183 If the ``\fB\-t\fP'' flag is used, then
185 will generate a list of the tokens that should be removed on its
186 standard output, and the new history file will be left in
192 This flag be useful for debugging when used with the ``\fB\-n\fP''
193 flags. Note that if the ``\fB\-f\fP'' flag is used, then the
194 name specified with that flag will be used instead of
198 The ``\fB\-v\fP'' flag is used to increase the verbosity of the program,
199 generating messages to standard output.
202 should be a number, where higher numbers result in more output.
203 Level one will print totals of the various actions done (not valid if a
204 new history file is not written), level two will print a report on each
205 individual file, while level five results in multiple lines of output
206 for every history line processed.
209 Use the ``\fB\-w\fP'' flag to ``warp'' time so that
211 thinks it is running at some time other then the current time.
212 The value should be a signed floating point number indicating the number
213 of days to use as the offset.
216 If the ``\fB\-x\fP'' flag is used, then
218 will not create any new history files. This is most useful when combined
219 with the ``\fB\-n\fP'' and `\fB`\-t\fP'' flags to see how
220 different expiration policies would change the amount of disk space used.
223 If the ``\fB\-z\fP'' flag is used, then articles are not removed, but their
224 names are appended to the specified
226 See the description of
231 If a filename is specified, it is taken as the control file and parsed
232 according to the rules in
234 A single dash (``\-'') may be used to read the file from standard input.
235 If no file is specified, the file
236 .I <pathetc in inn.conf>/expire.ctl
239 Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.
241 This is revision \\$3, dated \\$4.
243 .R$ $Id: expire.8 5909 2002-12-03 05:17:18Z vinocur $