1EXPIRE(8) InterNetNews Documentation EXPIRE(8)
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6 expire - Usenet article and history expiration program
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9 expire [-iNnptx] [-d dir] [-f file] [-g file] [-h file] [-r reason] [-s
10 size] [-v level] [-w number] [-z file] [expire.ctl]
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13 expire scans the history(5)-format text file pathdb/history and uses
14 the information recorded in it to purge itself of old news articles.
15 Articles stored using a storage method that has self-expire
16 functionality are by default not affected by expire's primary behavior
17 (but see the -N flag to disable this). In this case, expire.ctl is
18 ignored except the "/remember/" line for that article; expire does
19 still probe to see if the article still exists and purges the relevant
20 history and overview entries if appropriate. However, if
21 groupbaseexpiry in inn.conf is true, expire acts on all articles as
22 specified by expire.ctl regardless of whether their storage methods
23 have self-expire functionality.
24 Note that expire never purges articles which do not match any entry in
26 expire.ctl.
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29 -d dir
30 If the -d flag is used, then the new history file and database is
31 created in the specified directory dir. This is useful when the
32 filesystem does not have sufficient space to hold both the old and
33 new history files. When this flag is used, expire leaves the
34 server paused and creates a zero-length file named after the new
35 history file, with an extension of ".done" to indicate that it has
36 successfully completed the expiration. The calling script should
37 install the new history file and unpause the server. The -r flag
38 should be used with this flag.
39 -f file
41 To specify an alternate history file, use the -f flag. This flag
42 is valid when used with the -d flag, and the output will be written
43 to the specified file. The default without -f is "history".
44 -g file
46 If the -g flag is given, then a one-line summary equivalent to the
47 output of -v 1, except preceded by the current time, will be
48 appended to the specified file.
49 -h file
51 To specify an alternate input text history file, use the -h flag.
52 expire uses the old dbz(3) database to determine the size of the
53 new one. (If the -d flag is not used, the output filename will be
54 the same as the input filename with an extension of ".n".)
55 The default without the -h flag is pathdb/history.
57 -i To ignore the old database, use the -i flag.
59 -N The control file is normally ignored for articles in storage
61 methods which have self-expire functionality. If the -N flag is
62 used, expire still uses the control file for these articles.
63 -n If innd is not running, use the -n flag and expire will not send
65 the "pause" or "go" commands. (For more details on the commands,
66 see ctlinnd(8)). Note that expire only needs exclusive access for
67 a very short time -- long enough to see if any new articles arrived
68 since it first hit the end of the file, and to rename the new files
69 to the working files.
70 -p expire makes its decisions on the time the article arrived, as
72 found in the history file. This means articles are often kept a
73 little longer than with other expiration programs that base their
74 decisions on the article's posting date. To use the article's
75 posting date, use the -p flag.
76 -r reason
78 expire normally sends a "pause" command to the local innd daemon
79 when it needs exclusive access to the history file, using the
80 string "Expiring" as the reason. To give a different reason, use
81 the -r flag. The process ID will be appended to the reason. When
82 expire is finished and the new history file is ready, it sends a
83 "go" command. See also the -n flag.
84 -s size
86 Optimize the new history database for approximately size pairs
87 (lines in history). Accurately specifying the size will create a
88 more efficient database. (The size should be the estimated
89 eventual size of the file, typically the size of the old file.)
90 -t If the -t flag is used, then expire will generate a list of the
92 tokens that should be removed on its standard output, and the new
93 history file will be left in history.n, history.n.dir,
94 history.n.index and history.n.hash. This flag is useful for
95 debugging when used with the -n flag. Note that if the -f flag is
96 used, then the name specified with that flag will be used instead
97 of history.
98 -v level
100 The -v flag is used to increase the verbosity of the program,
101 generating messages to standard output. The level should be a
102 number, where higher numbers result in more output. Level one will
103 print totals of the various actions done (not valid if a new
104 history file is not written), level two will print a report on each
105 individual file, while level five results in multiple lines of
106 output for every history line processed.
107 -w number
109 Use the -w flag to "warp" time so that expire thinks it is running
110 at some time other then the current time. The value should be a
111 signed floating point number indicating the number of days to use
112 as the offset.
113 -x If the -x flag is used, then expire will not create any new history
115 files. This is most useful when combined with the -n and -t flags
116 to see how different expiration policies would change the amount of
117 disk space used.
118 -z file
120 If the -z flag is used, then articles are not removed, but their
121 names are appended to the specified file. See the description of
122 delayrm in news.daily(8). If a filename is specified, it is taken
123 as the control file and parsed according to the rules in
124 expire.ctl. A single dash ("-") may be used to read the file from
125 standard input. If no file is specified, the file
126 pathetc/expire.ctl is read.
127
129 Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. Converted
130 to POD by Julien Elie.
131 $Id: expire.pod 8577 2009-08-18 14:02:02Z iulius $
133
135 ctlinnd(8), dbz(3), expire.ctl(5), history(5), inn.conf(5), innd(8),
136 inndcomm(3), news.daily(8).
137INN 2.5.2 2010-08-11 EXPIRE(8)