This directory includes programs to modify the history database  as
well  as some utilities that might be useful in this task.  The database
is called the history file, and it contains one line for  every  article
on  the  system, specifying when it was received and where it was filed.
This file is indexed by the Message-ID, and  the  DBZ  package  provides
fast retrieval from it.

convdate       Converts between user-readable dates and the format  used
               in the history file.

expire         Scans the history database  to  purge  old  entries,  and
               remove old articles from the spool area.  You can specify
               how long to keep sets of newsgroups.

makeactive     This program can be used to rebuild the active file if it
               is lost in a crash.

makehistory    This program scans through the spool  area  and  rebuilds
               the history files.

newsrequeue    This program can be used after a crash to resend articles
               to your neighbors.

prunehistory   This is a tool for other programs that expire  news.   It
               reads  a  list of Message-ID's and filenames, and updates
               the history  file  to  mark  that  the  files  have  been
               deleted.

     This directory also includes expire.pch and reap.pch.  The first is
a  patch to the C News expire program that lets it cooperate better with
innd, sending it messages when articles have been removed.   The  second
is  a  set  of  patches  to the reap program that lets it cooperate with
prunehistory; it also adds some other useful features.  Both patch files
have  additional  information  in  them.  Both programs are unsupported,
provided by members of the beta-test group.

     To build these programs, type the following:

     cd $inn/expire
     make all


     If you are currently running C News, note that it has  a  directory
named  expire  that  is often the same pathname as INN's expire program.
You will have to move, or remove, the directory before  you  can  intall
the INN program.