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EXPIRE(8)		  InterNetNews Documentation		     EXPIRE(8)

NAME
       expire - Usenet article and history expiration program

SYNOPSIS
       expire [-iNnptx] [-d dir] [-f file] [-g file] [-h file] [-r reason] [-s
       size] [-v level] [-w number] [-z file] [expire.ctl]

DESCRIPTION
       expire scans the history(5)-format text file pathdb/history and uses
       the information recorded in it to purge itself of old news articles.
       Articles stored using a storage method that has self-expire
       functionality are by default not affected by expire's primary behavior
       (but see the -N flag to disable this).  In this case, expire.ctl is
       ignored except the "/remember/" line for that article; expire does
       still probe to see if the article still exists and purges the relevant
       history and overview entries if appropriate.  However, if
       groupbaseexpiry in inn.conf is true, expire acts on all articles as
       specified by expire.ctl regardless of whether their storage methods
       have self-expire functionality.

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

OPTIONS
       -d dir
	   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 unpause the server.	 The -r flag
	   should be used with this flag.

       -f file
	   To specify an alternate history file, use the -f flag.  This flag
	   is valid when used with the -d flag, and the output will be written
	   to the specified file.  The default without -f is "history".

       -g file
	   If the -g flag is given, then a one-line summary equivalent to the
	   output of -v 1, except preceded by the current time, will be
	   appended to the specified file.

       -h file
	   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 the -d flag is not used, the output filename will be
	   the same as the input filename with an extension of ".n".)

	   The default without the -h flag is pathdb/history.

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

       -N  The control file is normally ignored for articles in storage
	   methods which have self-expire functionality.  If the -N flag is
	   used, expire still uses the control file for these articles.

       -n  If innd is not running, use the -n flag and expire will not send
	   the "pause" or "go" commands.  (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 article's
	   posting date, use the -p flag.

       -r reason
	   expire normally sends a "pause" command to the local innd 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.  See also the -n flag.

       -s size
	   Optimize the new history database for approximately size pairs
	   (lines in history).	Accurately specifying the size will create a
	   more efficient database.  (The size should be the estimated
	   eventual size of the file, typically the size of the old file.)

       -t  If the -t flag is used, then expire will generate 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,
	   history.n.index and history.n.hash.	This flag is useful for
	   debugging when used with the -n flag.  Note that if the -f flag is
	   used, then the name specified with that flag will be used instead
	   of history.

       -v level
	   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 a report on each
	   individual file, while level five results in multiple lines of
	   output for every history line processed.

       -w number
	   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 floating point number indicating 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 file
	   If the -z flag is used, then articles are not removed, but their
	   names are appended to the specified 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.	A single dash ("-") may be used to read the file from
	   standard input.  If no file is specified, the file
	   pathetc/expire.ctl is read.

HISTORY
       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  Converted
       to POD by Julien Elie.

       $Id: expire.pod 8577 2009-08-18 14:02:02Z iulius $

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

INN 2.5.2			  2009-09-11			     EXPIRE(8)
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