CHAA006%vaxa.rhbnc.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK.UUCP (11/22/86)
I would like to be able to archive all files in a directory, then delete
the files themselves while leaving the directory entries. That way,
when performing a $ Directory on the archived directory, I would have
an immediate list of the file names, which would much simplify their
recovery from archive. Can anyone tell me how I can achieve this ?
Philip Taylor (Royal Holloway & Bedford New College; University of London; U.K)
Bitnet/NetNorth/Earn: chaa006@vaxa.rhbnc.ac.uk (or) chaa006%rhbnc.vaxa@ac.uk
(or) : chaa006@vaxb.rhbnc.ac.uk (or) chaa006%rhbnc.vaxb@ac.uk
Arpa : chaa006%vaxa.rhbnc.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpa
(or) : chaa006%vaxb.rhbnc.ac.uk@ucl-cs.arpagarry@TCGOULD.TN.CORNELL.EDU.UUCP (11/23/86)
In a recent article Philip Taylor said: >I would like to be able to archive all files in a directory, then delete >the files themselves while leaving the directory entries. That way, >when performing a $ Directory on the archived directory, I would have >an immediate list of the file names, which would much simplify their >recovery from archive. Can anyone tell me how I can achieve this ? This is slightly bizarre. I'll assume that you're running VMS, and by "archive" you mean "run the Backup program". That being the case, if you want to keep track of archived files you should use the /JOURNAL switch to generate a journal file. Multiple Backup runs can just keep appending to the same journal. Then when you want to figure out where the file went, you do: $ Backup/journal=My_Journal/list/select=lost.file And it will list if and when "lost.file" appeared in the journal and which save set it's a member of. -------- In answer to the original question, I'm not aware of any single RMS or ACP operation under VMS that will delete the file but leave the entry. To do it in two steps involves (at DCL) Delete followed by a Set File/Enter pointing to a dummy file, or (at RMS) Sys$Close w/delete followed by a Sys$Enter. Be aware that if you do this ANALYZE/DISK will complain bitterly. garry wiegand (garry%cadif-oak@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu)
CHAA006%vaxa.rhbnc.ac.uk@Cs.Ucl.AC.UK (11/24/86)
My thanks to all who responded so promptly to this question; the general consensus of opinion is that (a) it is a very silly thing to want to do; commands such as $ Analyse /Disk will become very confused, and that (b) it can most easily be achieved by creating a pseudonymous directory entry to the file, then deleting the file via its pseudonym, leaving the original directory untouched. I think I might try it for just one directory ..... ** Phil.