tmpwatch man page on CentOS

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TMPWATCH(8)		 System Administrator's Manual		   TMPWATCH(8)

NAME
       tmpwatch	 -  removes  files which haven't been accessed for a period of
       time

SYNOPSIS
       tmpwatch [-u|-m|-c] [-MUXadfqstvx] [--verbose] [--force] [--all]
		      [--nodirs] [--nosymlinks] [--test] [--fuser] [--quiet]
		      [--atime|--mtime|--ctime]	   [--dirmtime]	    [--exclude
       <path>]
		      [--exclude-user <user>] [--exclude-pattern <pattern>]
		      <hours> <dirs>

DESCRIPTION
       tmpwatch	 recursively  removes  files which haven't been accessed for a
       given number of hours. Normally, it's  used  to	clean  up  directories
       which are used for temporary holding space such as /tmp.

       When  changing directories, tmpwatch is very sensitive to possible race
       conditions and will exit with an error if one is detected. It does  not
       follow  symbolic links in the directories it's cleaning (even if a sym‐
       bolic link is given as its  argument),  will  not  switch  filesystems,
       skips  lost+found  directories owned by the root user, and only removes
       empty directories regular files, and symbolic links.

       By default, tmpwatch dates files by  their  atime  (access  time),  not
       their  mtime (modification time). If files aren't being removed when ls
       -l implies they should be, use ls -u to examine their atime to  see  if
       that explains the problem.

       If the --atime, --ctime or --mtime options are used in combination, the
       decision about deleting a file will be based on the  maximum  of	 these
       times.	The  --dirmtime	 option implies ignoring atime of directories,
       even if the --atime option is used.

       The hours parameter defines the threshold for removing  files.  If  the
       file  has not been accessed for hours hours, the file is removed.  Fol‐
       lowing this, one or more directories may be given for tmpwatch to clean
       up.

OPTIONS
       -u, --atime
	      Make  the	 decision  about  deleting  a file based on the file's
	      atime (access time). This is the default.

	      Note that the periodic updatedb file system scans keep the atime
	      of directories recent.

       -m, --mtime
	      Make  the	 decision  about  deleting  a file based on the file's
	      mtime (modification time) instead of the atime.

       -c, --ctime
	      Make the decision about deleting a  file	based  on  the	file's
	      ctime (inode change time) instead of the atime; for directories,
	      make the decision based on the mtime.

       -M, --dirmtime
	      Make the decision about deleting a directory based on the direc‐
	      tory's  mtime  (modification  time)  instead  of the atime; com‐
	      pletely ignore atime for directories.

       -a, --all
	      Remove all file types, not just regular  files,  symbolic	 links
	      and directories.

       -d, --nodirs
	      Do not attempt to remove directories, even if they are empty.

       -d, --nosymlinks
	      Do not attempt to remove symbolic links.

       -f, --force
	      Remove  files even if root doesn't have write access (akin to rm
	      -f).

       -q, --quiet
	      Report only fatal errors.

       -s, --fuser
	      Attempt to use the "fuser" command to see if a file  is  already
	      open before removing it.	Not enabled by default.	  Does help in
	      some circumstances, but  not  all.   Dependent  on  fuser	 being
	      installed in /sbin.  Not supported on HP-UX or Solaris.

       -t, --test
	      Don't remove files, but go through the motions of removing them.
	      This implies -v.

       -U, --exclude-user=user
	      Don't remove files owned by user, which can be an user  name  or
	      numeric user ID.

       -v, --verbose
	      Print a verbose display. Two levels of verboseness are available
	      -- use this option twice to get the most verbose output.

       -x, --exclude=path
	      Skip path; if path is a directory, all files contained in it are
	      skipped  too.   If  path	does not exist, it must be an absolute
	      path that contains no symbolic links.

       -X, --exclude-pattern=pattern
	      Skip paths matching pattern; if a directory matches pattern, all
	      files  contained	in  it are skipped too.	 pattern must match an
	      absolute path that contains no symbolic links.

SEE ALSO
       cron(1), ls(1), rm(1), fuser(1)

WARNINGS
       GNU-style long options are not supported on HP-UX.

AUTHORS
       Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
       Preston Brown <pbrown@redhat.com>
       Nalin Dahyabhai <nalin@redhat.com>
       Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>

4th Berkeley Distribution	Sat May 6 2006			   TMPWATCH(8)
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