p4 verify

Synopsis

Verify that the Perforce versioning service’s archives are intact.

If p4 verify returns errors, contact Perforce technical support.

Syntax

p4 [g-opts] verify [-t | -u | -v | -z] [-m max -q -s -X -b batch N] file[revRange] ...
p4 [g-opts] verify -S [-t -m max -q -X -b N] file...
p4 [g-opts] verify -U unloadfile ...
p4 [g-opts] verify -A archivefiles ...

Description

For each revision of the specified files, p4 verify reports the revision specific information and an MD5 digest (fingerprint) of the revision’s contents. See p4 revisions for information about specifying revisions.

The verification process involves opening the file’s archive, reading it, and verifying that its digest matches the expected value. If the file can’t be opened, verify reports MISSING. If the file can be opened, but does not have the expected contents, p4 verify reports BAD.

If invoked without arguments, p4 verify computes and displays the MD5 digest of each revision.

Syntax variants offer the following choices:

  • Verify a given set of file revisions.
  • Verify a given set of shelved file revisions.
  • Verify file revisions in the unload depot.
  • Verify file revisions in the archive depot.

It is good administrative practice to regularly verify the integrity of your depot files with p4 verify -qz //...

For details, see the Helix Versioning Engine Administrator Guide: Fundamentals.

Verifying shelved files

The verification of shelved files lets you know whether your shelved archives have been lost or damaged.

If a shelf is local to a specific edge server, you must issue the p4 verify -S command on the edge server where the shelf was created. If the shelf was promoted, run the p4 verify -S on the commit server.

You may also run the p4 verify -S t command on a replica to request re-transfer of a shelved archive that is missing or bad. Re-transferring a shelved archive from the master only works for shelved archives that are present on the master; that is, for a shelf that was originally created on the master or that was promoted if it was created on an edge server.

Verifying archived files

The verification of archived files lets you know whether your archived files have been damaged; it is a good practice to run a command like the following before you restore files with the p4 restore command. 

$ p4 verify -A //depot/mysource/...

Options

-A archivefiles

It is possible for files in the archive depot to become corrupted over time; this option allows you to verify these files before you restore them with the p4 restore command.

archivefiles specifies a file, a list of files, or set of files to verify; for example: 

//depot/..../source

-b batch

By default, p4 verify processes files in batches of 10,000 files at a time. You can change this batch size with the -b batch option.

To disable batching, specify -b 0. If the -z option is specified, the -b option is ignored and all options are processed in a single batch.

-m max

Limit p4 verify to max number of revisions.

Use this option with the -u option to compute and save digests for a limited number of revisions in each invocation of the p4 verify command.

-q

Run quietly; report only errors from mismatched digests or unreproducible revisions.

-s

Verify file size as well as digest. The -v implies the -s option.

-S

Verify shelved files. If you specify this option, the only valid revision specifier is @=change, specifying a single shelf. Use file patterns to restrict verification to a specific set of shelved files.

In a distributed installation, this command should be run on the edge server where the shelf was created. If the shelf has been promoted, this command may also be run on the commit server.

-t

For use on replicas only:p4 verify -t causes the replica to schedule a transfer of the contents of any damaged or missing revisions. (This option also works on a replica with lbr.replication=cache.)

The -t option cannot be used with the -v or -u options.

In replicated environments, p4 verify -t reports BAD! or MISSING! files with (transfer scheduled) at the end of the line.

-u

Store the filesize and MD5 digest of each file in the Perforce database if no filesize and/or digest has been previously stored. Subsequent uses of p4 verify will compare the computed version against this stored version.

-U unloadfile

Verify files in the unload depot. See p4 unload for details.

-v

Store the MD5 digest of each file in the Perforce database, even if there’s already a digest stored for that file, overwriting the existing digest. (The -v option is used only to update the saved digests of archive files that have been deliberately altered outside of Perforce control by a Perforce system administrator.)

The -v and -u options are mutually exclusive.

-X

Skip files of filetype +X (for which the service runs an archive trigger.)

-z

Optimizes performance by skipping revisions that have already been computed in the current pass; this option speeds verifications for files that exist via lazy copies. The resulting output might report a lazy copy revision if it is the first revision in the sort order to access a common archive file.

This option cannot be used with the -v or -u options.

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

Examples

p4 verify -S //depot/main/p4/...

Verifies all shelved files matching the specified path.

p4 verify -qS //...@=1023548

Verifies the shelved files in shelf 1023548 only.

p4 verify -q //...#head,#head

Verifies only the head revision of all files in the depot, reporting only on files with problems.

Related Commands

To get information about how you can specify revisions.

p4 help revisions