expire - Usenet article and history expiration program


SYNOPSIS

       expire [ -d dir ] [ -f file ] [ -g file ] [ -h file ] [ -i
       ] [ -N ] [ -n ] [ -p ] [ -r reason ] [ -t ] [ -v level ] [
       -w number ] [ -x ] [ -z file ] [ expire.ctl ]


DESCRIPTION

       Expire   scans   the   history(5)  text  file  <pathdb  in
       inn.conf>/history and uses the information recorded in  it
       to  purge itself or old news articles.  And if the article
       whose storage method has self  expire  functionality,  the
       control  file  is  ignored  except ``/remember/'' line for
       that article by default.  In this case, expire probes  the
       article  to see if it still exists.  If it does not exist,
       expire purges the relevant entries.  To disable this,  use
       the  ``-N''  flag.   If ``groupbaseexpiry'' in inn.conf is
       true, expire always treats all stored articles whose stor­
       age  method  have  self expire functionality regardless of
       its actual method.  In this case ``-e'',  ``-k'',  ``-N'',
       ``-p'', ``-q'', ``-w'' and ``-z'' flags are ignored.

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


OPTIONS

       -d     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 un-
              pause the server.  The ``-r'' flag should  be  used
              with this flag.  -f To specify an alternate history
              file, use the ``-f'' flag.  This flag is  valid  if
              ``-d''  flag  is used together, and the output will
              be written  to  this  file.   The  default  without
              ``-f'' flag is ``history.''

       -g     If  the  ``-g'' flag is given, then a one-line sum­
              mary equivalent to the output of ``-v 1'' and  pre­
              ceded  by the current time, will be appended to the
              specified file.

       -h     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
              ``-d''  flag  is  not used together, and the output
              file name will be with an extension of ``.n.''  The

              <pathdb in inn.conf>/history.

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

       -N     If the article whose storage method has self expire
              functionality, then the control file is ignored for
              that article by default.  If  the  ``-N''  flag  is
              used,  expire  still  uses the control file in this
              case.

       -n     If innd is not running, use  the  ``-n''  flag  and
              expire  will  not send the ``pause'' or ``go'' com­
              mands.  (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 arti­
              cle's posting date, use the ``-p'' flag.

       -r     Expire normally sends a ``pause''  command  to  the
              local innd(8) 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.

       -t     If the ``-t'' flag is used, then expire will gener­
              ate  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,   his­
              tory.n.index and history.n.hash.  This flag be use­
              ful  for debugging when used with the ``-n'' flags.
              Note that if the ``-f'' flag is used, then the name
              specified  with  that  flag will be used instead of
              history.

       -v     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 report on each  individual  file,  while
              level  five results in more than one line of output
              for every line processed.

              thinks  it  is  running at some time other then the
              current time.  The value should be a signed  float­
              ing  point  number  of 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     If the ``-z'' flag is used, then articles  are  not
              removed, but their names are appended to the speci­
              fied 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(5).
       A  single  dash  (``-'') may be used to read the file from
       standard  input.   If  no  file  is  specified,  the  file
       <pathetc in inn.conf>/expire.ctl is read.


HISTORY

       Written  by  Rich  $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNet­
       News.  This is revision 1.19.2.1, dated 2000/08/17.


SEE ALSO

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


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