TMPWATCH(8)                                                System Administrator's Manual                                               TMPWATCH(8)

NAME

       tmpwatch - removes files which haven't been accessed for a period of time

SYNOPSIS

       tmpwatch [-u|-m|-c] [-MUadfqstvx] [--verbose] [--force] [--all]
                      [--nodirs] [--nosymlinks] [--test] [--fuser] [--quiet]
                      [--atime|--mtime|--ctime] [--dirmtime] [--exclude path]
                      [--exclude-user user] time dirs

DESCRIPTION

       tmpwatch  recursively  removes  files  which haven't been accessed for a given time.  Normally, it's used to clean up directories which are
       used for temporary holding space such as /tmp.

       When changing directories, tmpwatch 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 lost+found directories owned by the root user, and only removes empty directories, regular files, and symbolic links.

       By default, tmpwatch dates files by their atime (access time), not their mtime (modification time). If files aren't being removed  when  ls
       -l implies they should be, use ls -u 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 time parameter defines the threshold for removing files.  If the file has not been accessed for time, the file is  removed.   The  time
       argument  is  a  number with an optional single-character suffix specifying the units: h for hours, d for days.  If no suffix is specified,
       time is in hours.

       Following this, one or more directories may be given for tmpwatch to clean up.

OPTIONS

       -u, --atime
              Make the decision about deleting a file based on the file's atime (access time). This is the default.

              Note that the periodic updatedb file system scans keep the atime of directories recent.

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

       -c, --ctime
              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.

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

       -a, --all
              Remove all file types, not just regular files, symbolic links and directories.

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

       -f, --force
              Remove files even if root doesn't have write access (akin to rm -f).

       -l, --nosymlinks
              Do not attempt to remove symbolic links.

       -q, --quiet
              Report only fatal errors.

       -s, --fuser
              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.

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

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

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

       -x, --exclude=path
              Skip  path;  if path is a directory, all files contained in it are skipped too.  If path does not exist, it must be an absolute path
              that contains no symbolic links.

SEE ALSO

       cron(1), ls(1), rm(1), fuser(1)

WARNINGS

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

AUTHORS

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

4th Berkeley Distribution                                         Fri Dec 14 2007                                                      TMPWATCH(8)