1TMPWATCH(8) System Administrator's Manual TMPWATCH(8)
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6 tmpwatch - removes files which haven't been accessed for a period of
7 time
8
10 tmpwatch [-u|-m|-c] [-MUXadfqstvx] [--verbose] [--force] [--all]
11 [--nodirs] [--nosymlinks] [--test] [--fuser] [--quiet]
12 [--atime|--mtime|--ctime] [--dirmtime] [--exclude path]
13 [--exclude-user user] [--exclude-pattern pattern]
14 time dirs
15
18 tmpwatch recursively removes files which haven't been accessed for a
19 given time. Normally, it's used to clean up directories which are used
20 for temporary holding space such as /tmp.
21 When changing directories, tmpwatch is very sensitive to possible race
23 conditions and will exit with an error if one is detected. It does not
24 follow symbolic links in the directories it's cleaning (even if a sym‐
25 bolic link is given as its argument), does not switch filesystems
26 (including non-trivial bind mounts), skips lost+found directories owned
27 by the root user, and only removes empty directories, regular files,
28 symbolic links, and on some systems also unused sockets.
29 By default, tmpwatch dates files by their atime (access time), not
31 their mtime (modification time). If files aren't being removed when ls
32 -l implies they should be, use ls -u to examine their atime to see if
33 that explains the problem.
34 If the --atime, --ctime or --mtime options are used in combination, the
36 decision about deleting a file will be based on the maximum of these
37 times. The --dirmtime option implies ignoring atime of directories,
38 even if the --atime option is used.
39 The time parameter defines the threshold for removing files. If the
41 file has not been accessed for time, the file is removed. The time
42 argument is a number with an optional single-character suffix specify‐
43 ing the units: m for minutes, h for hours, d for days. If no suffix is
44 specified, time is in hours.
45 Following this, one or more directories may be given for tmpwatch to
47 clean up.
48
52 -u, --atime
53 Make the decision about deleting a file based on the file's
54 atime (access time). This is the default.
55 Note that the periodic updatedb file system scans keep the atime
57 of directories recent.
58 -m, --mtime
61 Make the decision about deleting a file based on the file's
62 mtime (modification time) instead of the atime.
63 -c, --ctime
66 Make the decision about deleting a file based on the file's
67 ctime (inode change time) instead of the atime; for directories,
68 make the decision based on the mtime.
69 -M, --dirmtime
72 Make the decision about deleting a directory based on the direc‐
73 tory's mtime (modification time) instead of the atime; com‐
74 pletely ignore atime for directories.
75 -a, --all
78 Remove all file types, not just regular files, symbolic links
79 and directories. On systems where tmpwatch can remove unused
80 sockets, make the decision only based on file times, ignoring
81 possible use of the socket.
82 -d, --nodirs
85 Do not attempt to remove directories, even if they are empty.
86 -f, --force
89 Remove root-owned files even if root doesn't have write access
90 (akin to rm -f).
91 -l, --nosymlinks
94 Do not attempt to remove symbolic links.
95 -q, --quiet
98 Report only fatal errors.
99 -s, --fuser
102 Attempt to use the "fuser" command to see if a file is already
103 open before removing it. Not enabled by default. Does help in
104 some circumstances, but not all. Dependent on fuser being
105 installed in /sbin. Not supported on HP-UX or Solaris.
106 -t, --test
109 Don't remove files, but go through the motions of removing them.
110 This implies -v.
111 -U, --exclude-user=user
114 Don't remove files owned by user, which can be an user name or
115 numeric user ID.
116 -v, --verbose
119 Print a verbose display. Two levels of verboseness are available
120 -- use this option twice to get the most verbose output.
121 -x, --exclude=path
124 Skip path; if path is a directory, all files contained in it are
125 skipped too. If path does not exist, it must be an absolute
126 path that contains no symbolic links.
127 -X, --exclude-pattern=pattern
130 Skip paths matching pattern; if a directory matches pattern, all
131 files contained in it are skipped too. pattern must match an
132 absolute path that contains no symbolic links.
133
136 cron(1), ls(1), rm(1), fuser(1)
137
140 Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
141 Preston Brown <pbrown@redhat.com>
142 Nalin Dahyabhai <nalin@redhat.com>
143 Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>
1444th Berkeley Distribution 2009-10-15 TMPWATCH(8)