NAME

       prunehistory - remove file names from Usenet history file

SYNOPSIS

       prunehistory [ -f filename ] [ -p ] [ input ]

DESCRIPTION

       Prunehistory  modifies  the history(5) text file to ``remove'' a set of filenames from it.  The filenames
       are removed by overwriting them with spaces, so that the size and position of any following entries  does
       not change.

       Prunehistory  reads the named input file, or standard input if no file is given.  The input is taken as a
       set of lines.  Blank lines and lines starting with a number sign (``#'') are ignored.   All  other  lines
       are should consist of a Message-ID followed by zero or more filenames.

       The  Messge-ID  is  used  as  the  dbz(3)  key  to get an offset into the text file.  If no filenames are
       mentioned on the input line, then all filenames in the  text  are  ``removed.''   If  any  filenames  are
       mentioned,  they  are  converted  into  the  history  file  notation.  If they appear in the line for the
       specified Message-ID then they are removed.

       Since innd(8) only appends to the text file, prunehistory does not need to have any interaction with it.

OPTIONS

       -p     Prunehistory will normally complain about lines that do not follow the  correct  format.   If  the
              ``-p''  flag  is  used,  then  the  program  will silently print any invalid lines on its standard
              output.  (Blank lines and comment lines are  also  passed  through.)   This  can  be  useful  when
              prunehistory is used as a filter for other programs such as reap.

       -f     The  default  name  of the history file is /var/lib/news/history; to specify a different name, use
              the ``-f'' flag.

EXAMPLES

       It is a good idea to delete purged entries and rebuild the dbz database every so often by using a  script
       like the following:

              ctlinnd throttle "Rebuilding history database"
              cd /var/lib/news
              awk 'NF > 2 {
                   printf "%s\t%s\t%s", $1, $2, $3;
                   for (i = 4; i <= NF; i++)
                        printf " %s", $i;
                   print "\n";
              }' <history >history.n
              if makehistory -r -f history.n ; then
                  mv history.n history
                  mv history.n.pag history.pag
                  mv history.n.dir history.dir
              else
                  echo 'Problem rebuilding history; old file not replaced'
              fi
              ctlinnd go "Rebuilding history database"

       Note that this keeps no record of expired articles.

HISTORY

       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  This is revision 1.9, dated 1996/10/29.

SEE ALSO

       dbz(3), history(5), innd(8).

                                                                                                 PRUNEHISTORY(8)