EXPIRE(8)



EXPIRE(8)                 InterNetNews Documentation                 EXPIRE(8)

NAME
       expire - Usenet article and history expiration program

SYNOPSIS
       expire [-iNnptx] [-d dir] [-f file] [-g file] [-h file] [-r reason] [-s
       size] [-v level] [-w number] [-z file] [expire.ctl]

DESCRIPTION
       expire scans the history(5)-format text file pathdb/history and uses
       the information recorded in it to purge itself of old news articles.
       Articles stored using a storage method that has self-expire
       functionality are by default not affected by expire's primary behavior
       (but see the -N flag to disable this).  In this case, expire.ctl is
       ignored except the "/remember/" line for that article; expire does
       still probe to see if the article still exists and purges the relevant
       history and overview entries if appropriate.  However, if
       groupbaseexpiry in inn.conf is true, expire acts on all articles as
       specified by expire.ctl regardless of whether their storage methods
       have self-expire functionality.

       Note that expire never purges articles which do not match any entry in
       expire.ctl.

OPTIONS
       -d dir
           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 unpause the server.  The -r flag
           should be used with this flag.

       -f file
           To specify an alternate history file, use the -f flag.  This flag
           is valid when used with the -d flag, and the output will be written
           to the specified file.  The default without -f is "history".

       -g file
           If the -g flag is given, then a one-line summary equivalent to the
           output of -v 1, except preceded by the current time, will be
           appended to the specified file.

       -h file
           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 the -d flag is not used, the output filename will be
           the same as the input filename with an extension of ".n".)

           The default without the -h flag is pathdb/history.

       -i  To ignore the old database, use the -i flag.

       -N  The control file is normally ignored for articles in storage
           methods which have self-expire functionality.  If the -N flag is
           used, expire still uses the control file for these articles.

       -n  If innd is not running, use the -n flag and expire will not send
           the "pause" or "go" commands.  (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 article's
           posting date, use the -p flag.

       -r reason
           expire normally sends a "pause" command to the local innd 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.  See also the -n flag.

       -s size
           Optimize the new history database for approximately size pairs
           (lines in history).  Accurately specifying the size will create a
           more efficient database.  (The size should be the estimated
           eventual size of the file, typically the size of the old file.)

       -t  If the -t flag is used, then expire will generate 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,
           history.n.index and history.n.hash.  This flag is useful for
           debugging when used with the -n flag.  Note that if the -f flag is
           used, then the name specified with that flag will be used instead
           of history.

       -v level
           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 a report on each
           individual file, while level five results in multiple lines of
           output for every history line processed.

       -w number
           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 floating point number indicating 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 file
           If the -z flag is used, then articles are not removed, but their
           names are appended to the specified 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.  A single dash ("-") may be used to read the file from
           standard input.  If no file is specified, the file
           pathetc/expire.ctl is read.

HISTORY
       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  Converted
       to POD by Julien Elie.

       $Id: expire.pod 8573 2009-08-18 13:49:54Z iulius $

SEE ALSO
       ctlinnd(8), dbz(3), expire.ctl(5), history(5), inn.conf(5), innd(8),
       inndcomm(3), news.daily(8).

INN 2.6.4                         2015-09-20                         EXPIRE(8)

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