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EXPIRE(8)						EXPIRE(8)

NAME
       expire - Usenet article and history expiration program

SYNOPSIS
       expire  [  -c ] [ -D dir ] [ -d dir ] [ -e ] [ -f file ] [
       -g file ] [ -h file ] [ -i ] [ -k ] [ -l ] [ -N ] [ -n ] [
       -p  ]  [ -q ] [ -r reason ] [ -s ] [ -t ] [ -u file ] [ -v
       level ] [ -w number ] [ -x ] [ -Z file ] [  -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  old  news  articles.	If you have turned on the
       storage manager with the 'storageapi' in	 inn.conf(5)  and
       set   up	 overview.ctl(5),  it  also  purges  old  unified
       overview data.  And if the article is  stored  by  storage
       api  and the 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 arti-
       cle to see if it still exists.	If  it	does  not  exist,
       expire  purges  the  relevant entries (history and unified
       overview).  To disable this, use the ``-N'' flag.

OPTIONS
       -c     If articles are stored by storage api, articles are
	      normally	expired	 by  storage  class base.  If the
	      ``-c'' flag is used, articles are expired by normal
	      way  (newsgroup  base).	Note  that if the unified
	      overview entry of an article  is	not  stored,  the
	      article is expired by storage class base.

       -D     If  the  ``-D''  flag is used, then the new unified
	      overview files are created in the specified  direc-
	      tory, dir.  This is useful when the filesystem does
	      not have sufficient space to hold both the old  and
	      new  unified  overview  files.   When  this flag is
	      used, expire leaves the server paused and creates a
	      zero-length   file  named	 after	the  new  unified
	      overview file, with an extension	of  ``.done''  to
	      indicate	that  it  has  successfully completed the
	      expiration.  The calling script should install  the
	      new unified overview files and un-pause the server.

       -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-

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EXPIRE(8)						EXPIRE(8)

	      pause the server.	 The ``-r'' flag should	 be  used
	      with this flag.

       -e     If  the  ``-e''  flag  is used, then as soon as the
	      first cross posting of  the  article  expires,  all
	      copies of it are removed.	 Note that you cannot use
	      both ``-e'' and ``-k'' flag at the same  time.   If
	      you  turn	 on 'storageapi' in inn.conf(5) and don't
	      use both ``-e'' and ``-k'' flag, ``-e'' flag is set
	      internally.

       -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
	      default	    without	 ``-h''	     flag      is
	      <pathdb in inn.conf>/history.

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

       -k     If this flag is used then articles are removed when
	      they  have  been	expired	 from all the groups they
	      appear in.  Note that you cannot	use  both  ``-e''
	      and  ``-k''  flag at the same time.  If you turn on
	      'storageapi' in  inn.conf(5)  and	 don't	use  both
	      ``-e''  and  ``-k'' flag, ``-e'' flag is set inter-
	      nally.

       -l     Expire normally just unlinks each file if it should
	      be  expired.   If the ``-l'' flag is used, then all
	      articles after the first one are treated as if they
	      could  be symbolic links to the first one.  In this
	      case, the first article will not be removed as long
	      as any other cross-posts of the article remain.  If
	      ``-e''  flag  is	used  together,	 ``-l''	 flag  is
	      ignored.

       -N     If  the  article	is  stored by storage api and the
	      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.

								2

EXPIRE(8)						EXPIRE(8)

       -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.

       -q     Expire  normally	complains about articles that are
	      posted to newsgroups not mentioned  in  the  active
	      file.   To  suppress  this  action,  use the ``-q''
	      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.

       -s     If the ``-s'' flag is used, then expire will  print
	      a	 summary  when	it  exits showing the approximate
	      number of kilobytes used by all deleted articles.

       -t     If the ``-t'' flag is used, then expire will gener-
	      ate  a  list of the files that should be removed on
	      its standard output, and the new history file  will
	      be  left	in  history.n  and  history.n.dir  , his-
	      tory.n.index history.n.hash.  This flag  be  useful
	      for  debugging when used with the ``-n'' and ``-s''
	      flags.  Note that if the ``-f'' flag is used,  then
	      the  name	 specified  with  that	flag will be used
	      instead of history.

       -u     If the ``-u'' flag is used, then expired	article's
	      names  are  appended  to	the specified file.  This
	      files can be used as a  input  for  expireindex(8).
	      See    also   the	  description	of   delayrm   in
	      news.daily(8).

       -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

								3

EXPIRE(8)						EXPIRE(8)

	      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.

       -w     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  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'', ``-s'',  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).

       -Z     If  the ``-Z'' flag is used, then information about
	      the lowmarks for each group are stored in the file.
	      This file can then be used with ctlinnd (the ``low-
	      mark'' command) to adjust the active file.

       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 1.1.2.1, dated 1999/06/12.

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

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