Server-side file deletion

Files are deleted from the data server's upload and download directories by the file_deleter daemon. Typically you don't need to customize this. The default file deletion policy is:

• A workunit's input files are deleted when all results are 'over' (reported or timed out)

and the workunit is assimilated.

• A result's output files are deleted after the workunit is assimilated.

The canonical result is handled differently, since its output files may be needed to validate results that are reported after assimilation; hence its files are deleted only when all results are over, and all successful results have been validated.

Command-line options are:

-preserve_wu_files

Don't delete input files

-preserve_result_files

Don't delete output files

-retry_errors

Retry file deletions that failed previously.

-delete_antiques

periodically (once per hour) removes any files in the upload/ directory that are older than the oldest WU in the database. These files are created when BOINC clients return work really late after the deadline -- so late that the corresponding WU has been deleted from the database.

In some cases you may not want files to be deleted. There are three ways to accomplish this:

• Run the file_deleter daemon with the -preserve_wu_files and/or the -preserve_result_files command-line options.
• Include <no_delete/> in the <file_info> element for a file in a workunit or result template.

This lets you suppress deletion on a file-by-file basis.

• Include nodelete in the workunit name.

You may need to implement your own scheme for deleting files, to avoid overflowing data server storage.