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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] [-MUXadfqstvx] [--verbose] [--force] [--all]
                      [--nodirs] [--nosymlinks] [--test] [--fuser] [--quiet]
                      [--atime|--mtime|--ctime] [--dirmtime] [--exclude path]
                      [--exclude-user user] [--exclude-pattern pattern]
                      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), does not switch filesystems
       (including non-trivial bind mounts), skips lost+found directories owned
       by the root user, and only removes empty directories, regular files,
       symbolic links, and on some systems also unused sockets.

       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: m for minutes, 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.  On systems where tmpwatch can remove unused
              sockets, make the decision only based on file times, ignoring
              possible use of the socket.

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

       -f, --force
              Remove root-owned 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.

       -X, --exclude-pattern=pattern
              Skip paths matching pattern; if a directory matches pattern, all
              files contained in it are skipped too.  pattern must match an
              absolute path that contains no symbolic links.

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

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

4th Berkeley Distribution         2009-10-15                       TMPWATCH(8)