p4 archive

Archive obsolete revisions to an archive depot.

Syntax

p4 [g-opts] archive [-n -h -p -q -t -z] -D depot FileSpec[revSpec]

Syntax conventions

Description

This command enables a Helix Core Server user with admin access to transfer the specified revisions of versioned files into the archive depot A special depot into which versioned files (also known as archive files) can be transferred. on the master server, not replicas.

When files are moved into an archive depot, their last action is changed to archive.

Commands that access file content, such as p4 sync and p4 diff, skip archive revisions. Commands that do not require access to file content, such as p4 filelog, continue to report metadata concerning the archived revisions.

You can use p4 archive -n for testing purposes before mounting the file system associated with the archive depot. Storage for the archive depot must be mounted before running this command without the -n option.

Task streams must be unloaded prior to the task stream file revisions being archived to an archive depot.

Tip

If you want to disable server locks when running the p4 archive command, set the value of the server.locks.archive configurable to 0.

Warning

Use with caution. The following commands permanently remove file data:

p4 archive -p
p4 obliterate -y

Criteria without -z

Without the -z option, the command archives only revisions that meet all four criteria:

Stored in full (+F) or compressed (+C) format, rather than RCS format
Located in a local depot (not a remote or another archive depot)
Not copied or branched from another revision
Not copied or branched to another revision

Criteria with -z

With the -z option, the command archives only revisions that meet these two criteria:

Stored in full (+F) or compressed (+C) format, rather than RCS format
Located in a local depot (not a remote or another archive depot)

which includes any files that have lazy copies A method used by Helix Core Server to make internal copies of files without duplicating file content in the depot. A lazy copy points to the original versioned file (depot file). Lazy copies minimize the consumption of disk space by storing references to the original file instead of making additional copies of the file. or are lazy copies.

Options

`-D depot`	Specify an archive depot to which files are to be archived.
`-h`	Do not archive head revisions.
`-n`	Do not archive revisions. Instead, report on which revisions would have been archived.
`-p`	For the specified files in the archive depot, remove the physical file revisions but retain the revision history with the latest action being set to `purge`. Warning File contents are no longer accessible from `p4 restore`. Tip If you want to retain the metadata of purged files, do one of the following: use the -p option of p4 obliterate (recommended) perform the two-step sequence of p4 archive followed by p4 archive -p (time-consuming)
`-q`	Quiet mode, which suppresses messages about skipped revisions.
`-t`	Archive text files (or other revisions stored in delta format, such as files of type `binary+D`)
-z	Includes any files that have lazy copies A method used by Helix Core Server to make internal copies of files without duplicating file content in the depot. A lazy copy points to the original versioned file (depot file). Lazy copies minimize the consumption of disk space by storing references to the original file instead of making additional copies of the file. or are lazy copies. See Criteria with -z.
`g-opts`	See Global options.

Usage notes

Can File Arguments Use Revision Specifier?	Can File Arguments Use Revision Range?	Minimal Access Level Required
Yes	Yes	`admin`

To archive files stored in delta format, use the -t option.

Tip

There might be a computational cost associated with the manipulation of large numbers of RCS deltas.

If a revision is stored in an archive depot, and the stored revision is accessible to the versioning service, a user can determine which archived revision to restore by using p4 print:
p4 print -A -o myOutputFile //archive/depot/myFile
This command redirects all the versions of the archived file to myOutputFile. The user can then request that a Helix Core Server Administrator use p4 restore to restore one or more versions of the file.
Tip
A user with admin access can run p4 fstat -Ob to see the path, revision, type, full and relative local paths of the server archive file.

Examples

p4 archive file#3

Archive revisions 1 through 3 of file

If a single revision is specified as a file argument, p4 archive implicitly targets revisions #1 through the specified revision for archiving

p4 archive file#3,3

Archive revision 3 of file

To archive only a single revision rev, use the form p4 archive file#rev,rev

To archive files stored in delta format, use the -t option:

`p4 archive -D archives -t //depot/....txt`	Use the `...` wildcard to archive the files with the `.txt` extension.
`p4 archive -D archives -t //depot/....txt@3,3`	Use the `...` wildcard to archive the files with the `.txt` extension that belong to changelist `3`.
`p4 archive -D archives -t //depot/....txt@3`	Use the `...` wildcard to archive the files with the `.txt` extension that belong to changelists `1` through `3`.

Tip

There might be a computational cost associated with the manipulation of large numbers of RCS deltas.

Related commands

To create a depot	`p4 depot`
To restore files from an archive depot	`p4 restore`
To obliterate files without archiving them	`p4 obliterate`