---
name: "public-inbox-xcpdb"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "public-inbox"
version: "1.9.0-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/public-inbox-xcpdb"
---

# public-inbox-xcpdb(1)

upgrade Xapian DB formats

## NAME

public-inbox-xcpdb - upgrade Xapian DB formats

## SYNOPSIS

public-inbox-xcpdb \[OPTIONS\] INBOX\_DIR

public-inbox-xcpdb \[OPTIONS\] --all

## DESCRIPTION

public-inbox-xcpdb is similar to [**copydatabase**(1)](/copydatabase/1.md) for upgrading to the latest database format supported by Xapian (e.g. "glass" or "honey"), but is designed to tolerate and accept parallel Xapian database modifications from [**public-inbox-watch**(1)](/public-inbox-watch/1.md), [**public-inbox-mda**(1)](/public-inbox-mda/1.md), [**public-inbox-learn**(1)](/public-inbox-learn/1.md), and [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md).

This command is rarely used, as Xapian DB formats rarely change.

## OPTIONS

- \--all

  Copy all inboxes configured in ~/.public-inbox/config. This is an alternative to specifying individual inboxes directories on the command-line.

- \-c

  - \--compact

  In addition to performing the copy operation, run [**xapian-compact**(1)](/xapian-compact/1.md) on each Xapian shard after copying but before finalizing it. Compared to the cost of copying a Xapian database, compacting a Xapian database takes only around 5% of the time required to copy.

  Compared to [**public-inbox-compact**(1)](/public-inbox-compact/1.md), use of this option is preferable for gigantic inboxes where the coarse-grained lock currently required for [**public-inbox-compact**(1)](/public-inbox-compact/1.md) can cause the compaction to take hours at-a-time.

- \-R N

  - \--reshard=N

  Reshard the Xapian database on a v2 inbox to `"N"` shards .  Since [**xapian-compact**(1)](/xapian-compact/1.md) is not suitable for merging, users can rely on this switch to reshard the existing Xapian database(s) to any positive value of `"N"`.

  This is useful in case the Xapian DB was created with too few or too many shards given the capabilities of the current hardware.

- \--blocksize

  - \--no-full

  - \--fuller

  These options are passed directly to [**xapian-compact**(1)](/xapian-compact/1.md) when used with `"--compact"`.

- \--no-fsync

  Disable [**fsync**(2)](/fsync/2.md) and [**fdatasync**(2)](/fdatasync/2.md). See "--no-fsync" in [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md) for caveats.

  Available in public-inbox 1.6.0+.

- \--sequential-shard

  Copy each shard sequentially, ignoring `"--jobs"`.  This also affects indexing done at the end of a run.

- \--batch-size=BYTES

  - \--max-size=BYTES

  See [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md) for a description of these options.

  These indexing options indexing at the end of a run. `"public-inbox-xcpdb"` may run in parallel with with [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md), and `"public-inbox-xcpdb"` needs to reindex changes made to the old Xapian DBs by [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md) while it was running.

## ENVIRONMENT

- PI\_CONFIG

  The default config file, normally "~/.public-inbox/config". See [**public-inbox-config**(5)](/public-inbox-config/5.md)

- XAPIAN\_FLUSH\_THRESHOLD

  The number of documents to update before committing changes to disk.  This environment is handled directly by Xapian, refer to Xapian API documentation for more details.

  Default: 10000

## UPGRADING

This tool is intended for admins upgrading Xapian search databases used by public-inbox, NOT users upgrading public-inbox itself.

In particular, it DOES NOT upgrade the schema used by the PSGI search interface (see [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md)).

## LIMITATIONS

Do not use [**public-inbox-purge**(1)](/public-inbox-purge/1.md) or [**public-inbox-edit**(1)](/public-inbox-edit/1.md) while this is running; old (purged or edited data) may show up.

Normal invocations [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md) can safely run while this is running, too.  However, reindexing via the "--reindex" in [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md) switch will be a waste of computing resources.

## CONTACT

Feedback welcome via plain-text mail to \<mailto:meta@public-inbox.org\>

The mail archives are hosted at \<https://public-inbox.org/meta/\> and \<http://4uok3hntl7oi7b4uf4rtfwefqeexfzil2w6kgk2jn5z2f764irre7byd.onion/meta/\>

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2019-2021 all contributors \<mailto:meta@public-inbox.org\>

License: AGPL-3.0+ \<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt\>

## SEE ALSO

[**copydatabase**(1)](/copydatabase/1.md), [**xapian-compact**(1)](/xapian-compact/1.md), [**public-inbox-index**(1)](/public-inbox-index/1.md)