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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "EXPIRE 8"
.TH EXPIRE 8 "2015-09-12" "INN 2.6.4" "InterNetNews Documentation"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.if n .ad l
.nh
.SH "NAME"
expire \- Usenet article and history expiration program
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
\&\fBexpire\fR [\fB\-iNnptx\fR] [\fB\-d\fR \fIdir\fR] [\fB\-f\fR \fIfile\fR] [\fB\-g\fR \fIfile\fR]
[\fB\-h\fR \fIfile\fR] [\fB\-r\fR \fIreason\fR] [\fB\-s\fR \fIsize\fR] [\fB\-v\fR \fIlevel\fR]
[\fB\-w\fR \fInumber\fR] [\fB\-z\fR \fIfile\fR] [\fIexpire.ctl\fR]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
\&\fBexpire\fR scans the \fBhistory\fR\|(5)\-format text file \fIpathdb\fR/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 \fBexpire\fR's primary behavior (but see the
\&\fB\-N\fR flag to disable this).  In this case, \fIexpire.ctl\fR is ignored
except the \f(CW\*(C`/remember/\*(C'\fR line for that article; \fBexpire\fR does still
probe to see if the article still exists and purges the relevant history
and overview entries if appropriate.  However, if \fIgroupbaseexpiry\fR in
\&\fIinn.conf\fR is true, \fBexpire\fR acts on all articles as specified by
\&\fIexpire.ctl\fR regardless of whether their storage methods have
self-expire functionality.
.PP
Note that \fBexpire\fR never purges articles which do not match any entry
in \fIexpire.ctl\fR.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
.IP "\fB\-d\fR \fIdir\fR" 4
.IX Item "-d dir"
If the \fB\-d\fR flag is used, then the new \fIhistory\fR file and database
is created in the specified directory \fIdir\fR.  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, \fBexpire\fR leaves the server
paused and creates a zero-length file named after the new history file,
with an extension of \f(CW\*(C`.done\*(C'\fR to indicate that it has successfully completed
the expiration.  The calling script should install the new history file and
unpause the server.  The \fB\-r\fR flag should be used with this flag.
.IP "\fB\-f\fR \fIfile\fR" 4
.IX Item "-f file"
To specify an alternate history file, use the \fB\-f\fR flag.  This flag is
valid when used with the \fB\-d\fR flag, and the output will be written
to the specified file.  The default without \fB\-f\fR is \f(CW\*(C`history\*(C'\fR.
.IP "\fB\-g\fR \fIfile\fR" 4
.IX Item "-g file"
If the \fB\-g\fR flag is given, then a one-line summary equivalent to the
output of \fB\-v 1\fR, except preceded by the current time, will be appended
to the specified \fIfile\fR.
.IP "\fB\-h\fR \fIfile\fR" 4
.IX Item "-h file"
To specify an alternate input text history file, use the \fB\-h\fR flag.
\&\fBexpire\fR uses the old \fBdbz\fR\|(3) database to determine the size of the
new one.  (If the \fB\-d\fR flag is not used, the output filename will be
the same as the input filename with an extension of \f(CW\*(C`.n\*(C'\fR.)
.Sp
The default without the \fB\-h\fR flag is \fIpathdb\fR/history.
.IP "\fB\-i\fR" 4
.IX Item "-i"
To ignore the old database, use the \fB\-i\fR flag.
.IP "\fB\-N\fR" 4
.IX Item "-N"
The control file is normally ignored for articles in storage methods
which have self-expire functionality.  If the \fB\-N\fR flag is used,
\&\fBexpire\fR still uses the control file for these articles.
.IP "\fB\-n\fR" 4
.IX Item "-n"
If \fBinnd\fR is not running, use the \fB\-n\fR flag and \fBexpire\fR will not
send the \f(CW\*(C`pause\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`go\*(C'\fR commands.  (For more details on the commands,
see \fBctlinnd\fR\|(8)).  Note that \fBexpire\fR 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.
.IP "\fB\-p\fR" 4
.IX Item "-p"
\&\fBexpire\fR makes its decisions on the time the article arrived, as found
in the \fIhistory\fR 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 \fB\-p\fR flag.
.IP "\fB\-r\fR \fIreason\fR" 4
.IX Item "-r reason"
\&\fBexpire\fR normally sends a \f(CW\*(C`pause\*(C'\fR command to the local \fBinnd\fR daemon
when it needs exclusive access to the \fIhistory\fR file, using the string
\&\f(CW\*(C`Expiring\*(C'\fR as the reason.  To give a different reason, use the \fB\-r\fR flag.
The process \s-1ID\s0 will be appended to the reason.  When \fBexpire\fR is finished
and the new \fIhistory\fR file is ready, it sends a \f(CW\*(C`go\*(C'\fR command.  See
also the \fB\-n\fR flag.
.IP "\fB\-s\fR \fIsize\fR" 4
.IX Item "-s size"
Optimize the new history database for approximately \fIsize\fR pairs
(lines in \fIhistory\fR).  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.)
.IP "\fB\-t\fR" 4
.IX Item "-t"
If the \fB\-t\fR flag is used, then \fBexpire\fR will generate a list of the
tokens that should be removed on its standard output, and the new \fIhistory\fR
file will be left in \fIhistory.n\fR, \fIhistory.n.dir\fR, \fIhistory.n.index\fR
and \fIhistory.n.hash\fR.  This flag is useful for debugging when used with
the \fB\-n\fR flag.  Note that if the \fB\-f\fR flag is used, then the name
specified with that flag will be used instead of \fIhistory\fR.
.IP "\fB\-v\fR \fIlevel\fR" 4
.IX Item "-v level"
The \fB\-v\fR flag is used to increase the verbosity of the program, generating
messages to standard output.  The \fIlevel\fR 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 \fIhistory\fR 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.
.IP "\fB\-w\fR \fInumber\fR" 4
.IX Item "-w number"
Use the \fB\-w\fR flag to \*(L"warp\*(R" time so that \fBexpire\fR 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.
.IP "\fB\-x\fR" 4
.IX Item "-x"
If the \fB\-x\fR flag is used, then \fBexpire\fR will not create any new history
files.  This is most useful when combined with the \fB\-n\fR and \fB\-t\fR flags
to see how different expiration policies would change the amount of disk
space used.
.IP "\fB\-z\fR \fIfile\fR" 4
.IX Item "-z file"
If the \fB\-z\fR flag is used, then articles are not removed, but their names
are appended to the specified \fIfile\fR.  See the description of \fBdelayrm\fR
in \fBnews.daily\fR\|(8).  If a filename is specified, it is taken as the control
file and parsed according to the rules in \fIexpire.ctl\fR.  A single dash
(\f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR) may be used to read the file from standard input.  If no file
is specified, the file \fIpathetc\fR/expire.ctl is read.
.SH "HISTORY"
.IX Header "HISTORY"
Written by Rich \f(CW$alz\fR <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  Converted to
\&\s-1POD\s0 by Julien Elie.
.PP
\&\f(CW$Id:\fR expire.pod 8573 2009\-08\-18 13:49:54Z iulius $
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
\&\fBctlinnd\fR\|(8), \fBdbz\fR\|(3), \fBexpire.ctl\fR\|(5), \fBhistory\fR\|(5), \fBinn.conf\fR\|(5), \fBinnd\fR\|(8),
\&\fBinndcomm\fR\|(3), \fBnews.daily\fR\|(8).