.TH TMPWATCH 8 "Mon Jun 20 2005" "Red Hat Linux" "System Administrator's Manual"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
tmpwatch \- removes files which haven't been accessed for a period of time
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBtmpwatch\fR [-u|-m|-c] [-MUadfqstvx] [--verbose] [--force] [--all]
               [--nodirs] [--test] [--fuser] [--quiet]
               [--atime|--mtime|--ctime] [--dirmtime] [--exclude <path>]
               [--exclude-user <user>] <hours> <dirs>

.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBtmpwatch\fR 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, \fBtmpwatch\fR 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
symbolic link is given as its argument), will not switch filesystems,
skips \fIlost+found\fR directories owned by the root user,
and only removes empty directories and regular files. 

By default, \fBtmpwatch\fR dates files by their atime (access time), not
their mtime (modification time). If files aren't being removed when
\fBls -l\fR implies they should be, use \fBls -u\fR 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 \fIhours\fR parameter defines the threshold for removing files. If
the file has not been accessed for \fIhours\fR hours, the file is removed.
Following this, one or more directories may be given for \fBtmpwatch\fR
to clean up.


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

Note that the periodic \fBupdatedb\fR file system scans keep the atime of
directories recent.

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

.TP
\fB-c, -\-ctime\fR
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.

.TP
\fB-M, -\-dirmtime\fR
Make the decision about deleting a directory based on the directory's mtime
(modification time) instead of the atime; completely ignore atime for
directories.

.TP
\fB-a, -\-all\fR
Remove all file types, not just regular files and directories.

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

.TP
\fB-f, -\-force\fR
Remove files even if root doesn't have write access (akin to \fBrm -f\fR).

.TP
\fB-q, -\-quiet\fR
Report only fatal errors.

.TP
\fB-s, -\-fuser\fR
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.

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

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

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

.TP
\fB-x, -\-exclude=\fIpath\fR
Skip absolute \fIpath\fR; if \fIpath\fR is a directory, all files
contained in it are skipped too.
The directories to clean up must also be absolute paths.

.SH SEE ALSO
.IR cron (1),
.IR ls (1),
.IR rm (1),
.IR fuser (1)

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

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