grephistory - Query the INN history database

grephistory [-eilnqsv] [-f db] [message-id]

grephistory queries the INN history database for information about the specified message ID. If no flags are given, the program prints the storage API token of the corresponding article, or CW/dev/null if the article is listed in the history database but not stored on the server. If the message ID cannot be found in the database, grephistory will print CWgrephistory: not found and exit with a non-zero status.

Be sure to escape any special characters in the message ID from the shell. Single quotes are recommended for this purpose since many message IDs contain dollar signs.

-e

Only print the storage token if the article is stored on the system. (In other words, suppress the CW/dev/null or CWnot found output for missing or remembered articles.)

-f db

Query the history database db rather than the default history database.

-i

Rather than expecting a message ID on the command line, grephistory will read a list of message IDs on standard input, one per line. Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored, as are any malformed lines. It will print out standard output those message IDs which are not found in the history database. This is used when processing CWihave control messages.

-l

Display the entire line from the history database, rather than just the storage API token.

-n

If the message ID is present in the history database but has no storage API token, print CW/dev/null and exit successfully. This can happen if an article has been cancelled or expired, but history information has still been retained. This is the default behavior.

-q

Don't print any message, but still exit with the appropriate status.

-s

Rather than expecting a message ID on the command line, grephistory will read a list of message IDs on standard input, one per line. Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored, as are any malformed lines. It will print on standard output the storage API tokens for any articles that are still available, one per line. This flag is used when processing CWsendme control messages.

-v

Print out the hash of the message ID for diagnostic purposes, as well as any other requested information. This flag is not useful with -s.

Written by Rich CW$alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. Rewritten in POD by Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>. $Id: grephistory.1,v 1.10.2.1 2004/12/19 19:37:45 rra Exp $

history(5), inn.conf(5)