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GREPHISTORY(1)		   InterNetNews Documentation		  GREPHISTORY(1)

NAME
     grephistory - Query the INN history database

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

DESCRIPTION
     grephistory  queries  the	INN  history  database for information about the
     specified message-ID.  If no flags are given, the program prints the  stor-
     age  API  token of the corresponding article, or "/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
     "grephistory: 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 con-
     tain dollar signs.

OPTIONS
     -e  Only print the storage token if the article is stored	on  the  system.
	 (In  other  words,  suppress  the "/dev/null" or "not 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.  Lead-
	 ing and trailing whitespace is ignored, as are any malformed lines.  It
	 will  print on standard output those message-IDs which are not found in
	 the history database.	This is used  when  processing	"ihave"  control
	 messages.

     -l  Display the entire line from the history database, rather than just the
	 storage  API  token.  If the message-ID is present in the history data-
	 base but has no storage API token, grephistory does not print anything.

     -n  If the message-ID is present in the history database but has no storage
	 API token, print "/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.  Lead-
	 ing 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 pro-
	 cessing "sendme" 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 -i or
	 -s.

EXAMPLES
     In case the requested article is not listed in the history database:

	 % grephistory '<unknown.article@news.example.com>'
	 grephistory: not found
	 % grephistory -v '<unknown.article@news.example.com>'
	 grephistory: not found (hash is 501C66C22932BA91131186D7218201EB)

     In  case  the  requested  article is listed in the history database but not
     stored on the server:

	 % grephistory '<remembered.article@news.example.com>'
	 /dev/null

     In case the requested article is stored on the server:

	 % grephistory '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>'
	 @02014A2DD6231FCC00000000000000000000@
	 % grephistory -l '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>'
	 [B6DDF69376E3CC199246CEC949B3ACAC]  1244517923~-~1244517912
	   @02014A2DD6231FCC00000000000000000000@

     With sm, we can retrieve the article, and get its posting date:

	 % grephistory '<87fxeaay1z.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>' \
	     | sm | grep Date
	 Date: Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:25:12 -0700

	 % convdate -dc 1244517912
	 Tue, 9 Jun 2009 03:25:12 -0000 (UTC)

     It matches the number recorded in history as for its posting date.

HISTORY
     Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.   Rewritten  in
     POD by Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>.

SEE ALSO
     history(5), inn.conf(5), sm(8).

INN 2.8.0			   2025-05-10			  GREPHISTORY(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=grephistory&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

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