Purge old file versions

[korazy]

Is there a way to purge old file versions? We have been using Vault for several years and we a lot of version history that isn't needed any more. Ideally, I would like a way to purge file versions that are more than 2 years old and the version number is 3 less than current (N-3). If those two items are true, then purge that file version.

[lbauer]

This isn't available at the present time. We do have feature request 10226 logged for this functionality; I'll add your vote.

[ndecker@uss.com]

You can add mine as well. I would rather delete code > x years old and keep the database lean if possible. Can't find any way of doing it without spending the time to dive into the DB structure.
thanks

[lbauer]

I've added your "vote." Thanks for your feedback.

[vbtrek]

Please add my vote for this option too. We now do nightly compiles of our code and the binaries are stored in Vault, soo it's likely that the database is going to grow at some rate.

[lbauer]

Thanks. Although this is logged in as a feature request, it's probably not something we're going to be able to implement soon.

[nealbvault]

Please add my vote for this too. As the Vault DB gets to be multiple Gigabytes, it starts to slow down.
Thanks.

[lbauer]

Your vote is noted.

[ndecker@uss.com]

It's been a decade.
Literally, a decade.

Any plans on this?

[Tonya]

Thank you for inquiry. You are correct, this feature has not yet been implemented. Unfortunately, it was not a feature request in high demand. I will update the feature requset to include your latest interest.

Thanks,

Tonya

[BigBrett]

Would also dearly love this function. Our database is just growing and really needs to be trimmed to a working size. Please add a few votes from me.

[Tonya]

Will do! Thanks again for the feedback.

Tonya

[BigBrett]

Another 2 years on and still nothing.

Please, our database is growing with unwanted files that were deleted but which cannot be purged due to "branch exists" problems.

Would dearly love to get rid of these files as they are no longer relevant, we don't care about the history for these particular files, and they are just taking up space in the DB.

[jclausius]

IN case your wondering why no action, new functionality is considered based by feedback here and through the Tech Support Dept. @BigBrett, I've updated the feature request with some more activity. If others opine, this would help as well.

In the meantime, just thinking off the top of my head, as you would have to run a test, but if there was only one branch point, you could share the file right after the branch, share-branch on that file. Then might be able to delete and obliterate the file. Are the files branches of branches of branches... ? If so, then that idea won't work. Otherwise, I can investigate this over the next few days. Please let me know.

[BigBrett]

We're talking branches of branches of branches ....

Mostly we have a problem with 3rd party DLLs (obviously binary files) that contain version numbers in their names. We go through a release branch or two before we get new versions from suppliers. We add the new version to the current release and delete the old version because it is no longer valid in this current release.

After a few rounds we can no longer obliterate the old files from the current version because of branching. So we tend to carry deleted sets of non-essential DLLs in our various releases which are of no interest or use to us at all. Also exacerbated by the fact that we used to carry 32 and 64 bit versions of both debug and release builds of these DLLs.

I'm fairly sure we could reduce our DB size by a quarter to a half if we got rid of these files we no longer need.