EXPIRE (8)

NAME
     expire - Usenet article and history expiration program

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

DESCRIPTION
     Expire scans the history(5)  text file  <config$_PATH_HISTORY>  (typically
     /var/news/etc/history  ) and uses the information recorded in it to purge
     old news articles.

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.

     -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.

     -f   To specify an alternate history file, use the ``-f'' flag.

     -g   If the ``-g'' flag is given, then a one-line summary  equivalent  to
          the  output  of  ``-v1''  and preceeded 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(3z) database to determine the size of
          the new one.

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

     -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.

     -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.
     -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 generate 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  and
          history.n.pag.  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.

     -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.

     -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 floating 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 specified file.  See the description of
          expirerm 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  <config$_PATH_EXPIRECTL>  (typically  /var/news/etc/expire.ctl)  is
     read.

HISTORY
     Written by Rich $alz  <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>  for  InterNetNews.   This  is
     revision 1.19, dated 1996/10/29.

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