p4 archive

Synopsis

Archive obsolete revisions to an archive depot.

Syntax

p4 [g-opts] archive [-h -n -p -q -t] -D depot file[revRange] ...

Description

Moves the specified revisions into a depot of type archive.

When files are moved into an archive depot, their last action is changed to archive. Commands that access file content (for example, p4 sync, p4 diff, and so on) skip archive revisions, but commands that do not require access to file content (such as p4 filelog, for example) continue to report to metadata concerning the archived revisions.

Set the server.locks.archive configurable to disable server locks when running the p4 archive command.

Warning

Use p4 archive -p with caution. This is one of only two commands in Perforce that actually removes file data. (The other command that removes file data is p4 obliterate.)

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Do not archive revisions; report on which revisions would have been archived.

-p

Purge any archives of the specified files named in the archive depot. (The action for affected revisions is set to purge on completion. File contents are no longer accessible from p4 restore.)

-q

Quiet mode; suppress messages about skipped revisions.

-t

Archive text files (or other revisions stored in delta format, such as files of type binary+D)

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
  • By default, only files stored in full (+F) or compressed (+C) are archived. The files must be in a local depot (not a remote or another archive depot), and must neither be copied nor branched to (or from) another revision.
  • To archive files stored in delta format, use the -t option. Be aware that there may be a computational cost associated with the manipulation of large numbers of RCS deltas.
  • You can use p4 archive -n for testing purposes before mounting the filesystem associated with the archive depot. Storage for the archive depot must be mounted before running this command without the -n option.
  • If a single revision is specified as a file argument, p4 archive implicitly targets revisions #1 through the specified revision for archiving. To archive only a single revision rev, use the form p4 archive file#rev,rev.
  • If a revision is stored in an archive depot, and the stored revision is accessible to the versioning service, end users can use p4 print -A -o filename myFile to a file in order to determine which archived revision(s) are desired before (optionally) requesting that a Perforce Administrator use p4 restore to restore the file.

Examples

p4 archive file#3

Archive revisions 1, 2, and 3 of file.

p4 archive file#3,3

Archive revision 3 of file.

p4 print -A -o myOutputFile myArchiveFile

Redirect the contents of myArchiveFile to myOutputFile without restoring the archived file. Administrative privileges are not required.

myArchiveFile might be something like //archive/depot/myFile

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