grephistory(1)



GREPHISTORY(1)            InterNetNews Documentation            GREPHISTORY(1)

NAME
       grephistory - Query the INN history database

SYNOPSIS
       grephistory [-eilnqsv] [-f db] [message-id]

DESCRIPTION
       grephistory queries the INN history database for information about the
       specified message-ID.  If no flags are given, the program prints the
       storage API token of the corresponding article, or "/dev/null" if the
       article is listed in the history database but not stored on the server.
       If the message-ID cannot be found in the database, grephistory will
       print "grephistory: not found" and exit with a non-zero status.

       Be sure to escape any special characters in the message ID from the
       shell.  Single quotes are recommended for this purpose since many
       message-IDs contain dollar signs.

OPTIONS
       -e  Only print the storage token if the article is stored on the
           system.  (In other words, suppress the "/dev/null" or "not found"
           output for missing or remembered articles.)

       -f db
           Query the history database db rather than the default history
           database.

       -i  Rather than expecting a message-ID on the command line, grephistory
           will read a list of message-IDs on standard input, one per line.
           Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored, as are any malformed
           lines.  It will print on standard output those message-IDs which
           are not found in the history database.  This is used when
           processing "ihave" control messages.

       -l  Display the entire line from the history database, rather than just
           the storage API token.  If the message-ID is present in the history
           database but has no storage API token, grephistory does not print
           anything.

       -n  If the message-ID is present in the history database but has no
           storage API token, print "/dev/null" and exit successfully.  This
           can happen if an article has been cancelled or expired, but history
           information has still been retained.  This is the default behavior.

       -q  Don't print any message, but still exit with the appropriate
           status.

       -s  Rather than expecting a message-ID on the command line, grephistory
           will read a list of message-IDs on standard input, one per line.
           Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored, as are any malformed
           lines.  It will print on standard output the storage API tokens for
           any articles that are still available, one per line.  This flag is
           used when processing "sendme" control messages.

       -v  Print out the hash of the message-ID for diagnostic purposes, as
           well as any other requested information.  This flag is not useful
           with -i or -s.

EXAMPLES
       In case the requested article is not listed in the history database:

           % grephistory '<unknown.article@news.example.com>'
           grephistory: not found
           % grephistory -v '<unknown.article@news.example.com>'
           grephistory: not found (hash is 501C66C22932BA91131186D7218201EB)

       In case the requested article is listed in the history database but not
       stored on the server:

           % grephistory '<remembered.article@news.example.com>'
           /dev/null

       In case the requested article is stored on the server:

           % grephistory '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>'
           @02014A2DD6231FCC00000000000000000000@
           % grephistory -l '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>'
           [B6DDF69376E3CC199246CEC949B3ACAC]  1244517923~-~1244517912  @02014A2DD6231FCC00000000000000000000@

       With sm, we can retrieve the article, and get its posting date:

           % grephistory '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>' | sm | grep Date
           Date: Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:25:12 -0700

           % convdate -dc 1244517912
           Tue, 9 Jun 2009 03:25:12 -0000 (UTC)

       It matches the number recorded in history as for its posting date.

HISTORY
       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  Rewritten
       in POD by Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>.

       $Id: grephistory.pod 9971 2015-12-10 20:30:10Z iulius $

SEE ALSO
       history(5), inn.conf(5), sm(1).

INN 2.6.4                         2015-12-11                    GREPHISTORY(1)

Man(1) output converted with man2html
list of all man pages