p4 archive

Archive obsolete revisions to an archive depot.

Syntax

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

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

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 Instead, report on which revisions would have been archived.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	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, which suppresses 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 revision is stored in an archive depot, and the stored revision is accessible to the versioning service, end users can determine which archived revision they might want to be restored by using p4 print:

  p4 print -A -o myOutputFile /archive/depot/myFile

  This command redirects the contents of the archived file to myOutputFile without restoring the archived file. End users can then request that a Helix Server Administrator use p4 restore to restore the 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.

If Helix Server must manipulate a large numbers of RCS deltas, the computational cost might be noticable.

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