1GREPHISTORY(1)            InterNetNews Documentation            GREPHISTORY(1)
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NAME

6       grephistory - Query the INN history database
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SYNOPSIS

9       grephistory [-eilnqsv] [-f db] [message-id]
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DESCRIPTION

12       grephistory queries the INN history database for information about the
13       specified message-ID.  If no flags are given, the program prints the
14       storage API token of the corresponding article, or "/dev/null" if the
15       article is listed in the history database but not stored on the server.
16       If the message-ID cannot be found in the database, grephistory will
17       print "grephistory: not found" and exit with a non-zero status.
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19       Be sure to escape any special characters in the message ID from the
20       shell.  Single quotes are recommended for this purpose since many
21       message-IDs contain dollar signs.
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OPTIONS

24       -e  Only print the storage token if the article is stored on the
25           system.  (In other words, suppress the "/dev/null" or "not found"
26           output for missing or remembered articles.)
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28       -f db
29           Query the history database db rather than the default history
30           database.
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32       -i  Rather than expecting a message-ID on the command line, grephistory
33           will read a list of message-IDs on standard input, one per line.
34           Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored, as are any malformed
35           lines.  It will print on standard output those message-IDs which
36           are not found in the history database.  This is used when
37           processing "ihave" control messages.
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39       -l  Display the entire line from the history database, rather than just
40           the storage API token.  If the message-ID is present in the history
41           database but has no storage API token, grephistory does not print
42           anything.
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44       -n  If the message-ID is present in the history database but has no
45           storage API token, print "/dev/null" and exit successfully.  This
46           can happen if an article has been cancelled or expired, but history
47           information has still been retained.  This is the default behavior.
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49       -q  Don't print any message, but still exit with the appropriate
50           status.
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52       -s  Rather than expecting a message-ID on the command line, grephistory
53           will read a list of message-IDs on standard input, one per line.
54           Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored, as are any malformed
55           lines.  It will print on standard output the storage API tokens for
56           any articles that are still available, one per line.  This flag is
57           used when processing "sendme" control messages.
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59       -v  Print out the hash of the message-ID for diagnostic purposes, as
60           well as any other requested information.  This flag is not useful
61           with -i or -s.
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EXAMPLES

64       In case the requested article is not listed in the history database:
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66           % grephistory '<unknown.article@news.example.com>'
67           grephistory: not found
68           % grephistory -v '<unknown.article@news.example.com>'
69           grephistory: not found (hash is 501C66C22932BA91131186D7218201EB)
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71       In case the requested article is listed in the history database but not
72       stored on the server:
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74           % grephistory '<remembered.article@news.example.com>'
75           /dev/null
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77       In case the requested article is stored on the server:
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79           % grephistory '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>'
80           @02014A2DD6231FCC00000000000000000000@
81           % grephistory -l '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>'
82           [B6DDF69376E3CC199246CEC949B3ACAC]  1244517923~-~1244517912
83             @02014A2DD6231FCC00000000000000000000@
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85       With sm, we can retrieve the article, and get its posting date:
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87           % grephistory '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>' \
88               | sm | grep Date
89           Date: Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:25:12 -0700
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91           % convdate -dc 1244517912
92           Tue, 9 Jun 2009 03:25:12 -0000 (UTC)
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94       It matches the number recorded in history as for its posting date.
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HISTORY

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

101       history(5), inn.conf(5), sm(1).
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105INN 2.7.1                         2023-03-07                    GREPHISTORY(1)
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