rethought distributed fsck; instead add activity.log and expire command

This is much more space efficient!

4 files changed, 74 insertions, 38 deletions

diff --git a/doc/git-annex-expire.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-expire.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ff167804a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/git-annex-expire.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# NAME
+
+git-annex expire - expire inactive repositories
+
+# SYNOPSIS
+
+git annex expire `[repository:]time ...`
+
+# DESCRIPTION
+
+This command expires repositories that have not performed some activity
+within a specified time period. A repository is expired by marking it as
+dead. De-expiration is also done; if a dead repository performed some
+activity recently, it is marked as semitrusted again.
+
+This can be useful when it's not possible to keep track of the state
+of repositories manually. For example, a distributed network of
+repositories where nobody can directly access all the repositories to
+check their status.
+
+The repository can be specified using the name of a remote,
+or the description or uuid of the repository. 
+
+The time is in the form "60d" or "1y". A time of "never" will disable
+expiration.
+
+If a time is specified without a repository, it is used as the default
+value for all repositories. Note that the current repository is never
+expired.
+
+# OPTIONS
+
+* `--activity=Name`
+
+  Specify the activity that a repository must have performed to avoid being
+  expired. The default is any activity.
+
+  Currently, the only activity that can be performed to avoid expiration
+  is `git annex fsck`. Note that fscking a remote updates the
+  expiration of the remote repository, not the local repository.
+
+  The first version of git-annex that recorded fsck activity was
+  5.20150405.
+
+# SEE ALSO
+
+[[git-annex]](1)
+
+[[git-annex-fsck]](1)
+
+[[git-annex-schedule]](1)
+
+[[git-annex-dead]](1)
+
+[[git-annex-semitrust]](1)
+
+# AUTHOR
+
+Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+
+Warning: Automatically converted into a man page by mdwn2man. Edit with care.
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-fsck.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-fsck.mdwn
index 1f5d75f3e..cb27fe452 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-fsck.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-fsck.mdwn
@@ -53,44 +53,6 @@ With parameters, only the specified files are checked.
 
 	git annex fsck --incremental-schedule 30d --time-limit 5h
 
-* `--distributed`
-
-  Normally, fsck only fixes the git-annex location logs when an inconsistecy
-  is detected. In distributed mode, each file that is checked will result
-  in a location log update noting the time that it was present.
-
-  This is useful in situations where repositories cannot be trusted to
-  continue to exist. By running a periodic distributed fsck, those
-  repositories can verify that they still exist and that the information
-  about their contents is still accurate.
-
-  This is not the default mode, because each distributed fsck increases
-  the size of the git-annex branch. While it takes care to log identical
-  location tracking lines for all keys, which will delta-compress well,
-  there is still overhead in committing the changes. If this causes
-  the git-annex branch to grow too big, it can be pruned using
-  [[git-annex-forget]](1)
-
-* `--expire="[repository:]time`..."
-
-  This option makes the fsck check for location logs of the specified
-  repository that have not been updated by a distributed fsck within the
-  specified time period. Such stale location logs are then thrown out, so
-  git-annex will no longer think that a repository contains data, if it is
-  not participating in distributed fscking.
-  
-  The repository can be specified using the name of a remote,
-  or the description or uuid of the repository. If a time is specified
-  without a repository, it is used as the default value for all
-  repositories. Note that location logs for the current repository are
-  never expired, since they can be verified directly.
-
-  The time is in the form "60d" or "1y". A time of "never" will disable
-  expiration.
-
-  Note that a remote can always run `fsck` later on to re-update the
-  location log if it was expired in error.
-
 * `--numcopies=N`
 
   Override the normally configured number of copies. 
diff --git a/doc/git-annex.mdwn b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
index 27439cd3a..11fbc6e01 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
@@ -302,6 +302,11 @@ subdirectories).
 
   See [[git-annex-fsck]](1) for details.
 
+* `expire [repository:]time ...`
+
+  Expires repositories that have not recently performed an activity
+  (such as a fsck).
+
 * `unused`
 
   Checks the annex for data that does not correspond to any files present
diff --git a/doc/internals.mdwn b/doc/internals.mdwn
index 824655a92..7e8f4b19a 100644
--- a/doc/internals.mdwn
+++ b/doc/internals.mdwn
@@ -247,6 +247,14 @@ Example:
 
 	42bf2035-0636-461d-a367-49e9dfd361dd fsck self 30m every day at any time; fsck 4b3ebc86-0faf-4892-83c5-ce00cbe30f0a 1h every year at any time timestamp=1385646997.053162s
 
+## `activity.log`
+
+Used to record the times of activities, such as fscks.
+
+Example:
+
+	42bf2035-0636-461d-a367-49e9dfd361dd Fsck timestamp=1422387398.30395s
+
 ## `transitions.log`
 
 Used to record transitions, eg by `git annex forget`