Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!news
From: flee@cs.psu.edu (Felix Lee)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: expire
Message-ID: <=odHcke_@cs.psu.edu>
Date: 22 Jun 91 04:13:05 GMT
References: <4313@anasaz.UUCP> <1991Jun21.143814.15606@gjetor.geac.COM>
Sender: news@cs.psu.edu (Usenet)
Organization: Penn State Computer Science
Lines: 21
Nntp-Posting-Host: dictionopolis.cs.psu.edu

>[...], feeding more-or-less severe explist files to it and then
>checking freespace to see if the next pass should be taken or not.

This is called "progressive expire".  Several people have implemented
various forms of this, posted to alt.sources and such.

I've been sporadically working on implementing pure space-based
expiry.  You set a target amount of space free or space used in
whatever newsgroups you like, and in a single pass enough articles are
removed to satisfy the constraints.

The advantage of this is that expiry can be a continuous process.  As
you receive news you can remove a corresponding amount of old news so
your disk space usage remains at a steady state.  This should let you
run smoothly with tight space, especially with some cooperation from
"spacefor".

The disadvantage of this is that it's probably going to be a little
more expensive than simple date-based expiry.
--
Felix Lee	flee@cs.psu.edu