atlas retention#

file version: 10 July 2026

Overview#

atlas retention manages file retention periods. Retention prevents a file from being modified or deleted until the period expires.

With no flags, it shows the current retention expiry time. Setting a retention period is open to any user with read access to the target. Clearing retention requires root, and may still be blocked by the filesystem’s sam_retain_denyroot policy when retention is active.

The period format is UyVMWdXhYmZs; for example, 1Y6M = 1 year 6 months, 30d = 30 days, and 2Y = 2 years.

Usage#

atlas retention <path> [paths...] [flags]

Command Flags#

Flag

Description

-c, --clear

Clear retention period (root only)

-n, --dry-run

Show what would happen without making changes

-p, --period string

Retention period (UyVMWdXhYmZs)

-r, --recursive

Apply recursively to directory contents

-e, --regexp string

Regexp pattern matched against file paths

Examples#

atlas retention /archive/dataset.tar
atlas retention -p 1Y6M /archive/dataset.tar
atlas retention --clear /archive/dataset.tar
atlas retention -r -p 30d /data/project/
atlas retention -e '\.bak$' -r -p 7d /data

Global Flags#

Flag

Description

--ca-cert string

Path to CA certificate for server verification

--format string

Machine-readable output format (json or csv); omit for the default human-readable output

-L, --lang string

Interface language (en, de)

--no-color

Disable color output

-P, --plaintext

Use plaintext (non-TLS) connection

-s, --server string

ATLAS server address; defaults to ACLI_SERVER, then the stored session, /etc/atlas/atlas.conf, and finally localhost:7449

--tls-skip-verify

Skip TLS certificate verification; enabled by default for self-signed setups
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