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+
+                        <h1 id="message-retention-policies"><a class="header" href="#message-retention-policies">Message retention policies</a></h1>
+<p>Synapse admins can enable support for message retention policies on
+their homeserver. Message retention policies exist at a room level,
+follow the semantics described in
+<a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/blob/matthew/msc1763/proposals/1763-configurable-retention-periods.md">MSC1763</a>,
+and allow server and room admins to configure how long messages should
+be kept in a homeserver's database before being purged from it.
+<strong>Please note that, as this feature isn't part of the Matrix
+specification yet, this implementation is to be considered as
+experimental. There are known bugs which may cause database corruption.
+Proceed with caution.</strong> </p>
+<p>A message retention policy is mainly defined by its <code>max_lifetime</code>
+parameter, which defines how long a message can be kept around after
+it was sent to the room. If a room doesn't have a message retention
+policy, and there's no default one for a given server, then no message
+sent in that room is ever purged on that server.</p>
+<p>MSC1763 also specifies semantics for a <code>min_lifetime</code> parameter which
+defines the amount of time after which an event <em>can</em> get purged (after
+it was sent to the room), but Synapse doesn't currently support it
+beyond registering it.</p>
+<p>Both <code>max_lifetime</code> and <code>min_lifetime</code> are optional parameters.</p>
+<p>Note that message retention policies don't apply to state events.</p>
+<p>Once an event reaches its expiry date (defined as the time it was sent
+plus the value for <code>max_lifetime</code> in the room), two things happen:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Synapse stops serving the event to clients via any endpoint.</li>
+<li>The message gets picked up by the next purge job (see the &quot;Purge jobs&quot;
+section) and is removed from Synapse's database.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Since purge jobs don't run continuously, this means that an event might
+stay in a server's database for longer than the value for <code>max_lifetime</code>
+in the room would allow, though hidden from clients.</p>
+<p>Similarly, if a server (with support for message retention policies
+enabled) receives from another server an event that should have been
+purged according to its room's policy, then the receiving server will
+process and store that event until it's picked up by the next purge job,
+though it will always hide it from clients.</p>
+<p>Synapse requires at least one message in each room, so it will never
+delete the last message in a room. It will, however, hide it from
+clients.</p>
+<h2 id="server-configuration"><a class="header" href="#server-configuration">Server configuration</a></h2>
+<p>Support for this feature can be enabled and configured by adding a the
+<code>retention</code> in the Synapse configuration file (see
+<a href="usage/configuration/config_documentation.html#retention">configuration manual</a>).</p>
+<p>To enable support for message retention policies, set the setting
+<code>enabled</code> in this section to <code>true</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="default-policy"><a class="header" href="#default-policy">Default policy</a></h3>
+<p>A default message retention policy is a policy defined in Synapse's
+configuration that is used by Synapse for every room that doesn't have a
+message retention policy configured in its state. This allows server
+admins to ensure that messages are never kept indefinitely in a server's
+database. </p>
+<p>A default policy can be defined as such, by adding the <code>retention</code> option in
+the configuration file and adding these sub-options:</p>
+<pre><code class="language-yaml">default_policy:
+  min_lifetime: 1d
+  max_lifetime: 1y
+</code></pre>
+<p>Here, <code>min_lifetime</code> and <code>max_lifetime</code> have the same meaning and level
+of support as previously described. They can be expressed either as a
+duration (using the units <code>s</code> (seconds), <code>m</code> (minutes), <code>h</code> (hours),
+<code>d</code> (days), <code>w</code> (weeks) and <code>y</code> (years)) or as a number of milliseconds.</p>
+<h3 id="purge-jobs"><a class="header" href="#purge-jobs">Purge jobs</a></h3>
+<p>Purge jobs are the jobs that Synapse runs in the background to purge
+expired events from the database. They are only run if support for
+message retention policies is enabled in the server's configuration. If
+no configuration for purge jobs is configured by the server admin,
+Synapse will use a default configuration, which is described here in the
+<a href="usage/configuration/config_documentation.html#retention">configuration manual</a>.</p>
+<p>Some server admins might want a finer control on when events are removed
+depending on an event's room's policy. This can be done by setting the
+<code>purge_jobs</code> sub-section in the <code>retention</code> section of the configuration
+file. An example of such configuration could be:</p>
+<pre><code class="language-yaml">purge_jobs:
+  - longest_max_lifetime: 3d
+    interval: 12h
+  - shortest_max_lifetime: 3d
+    longest_max_lifetime: 1w
+    interval: 1d
+  - shortest_max_lifetime: 1w
+    interval: 2d
+</code></pre>
+<p>In this example, we define three jobs:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>one that runs twice a day (every 12 hours) and purges events in rooms
+which policy's <code>max_lifetime</code> is lower or equal to 3 days.</li>
+<li>one that runs once a day and purges events in rooms which policy's
+<code>max_lifetime</code> is between 3 days and a week.</li>
+<li>one that runs once every 2 days and purges events in rooms which
+policy's <code>max_lifetime</code> is greater than a week.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Note that this example is tailored to show different configurations and
+features slightly more jobs than it's probably necessary (in practice, a
+server admin would probably consider it better to replace the two last
+jobs with one that runs once a day and handles rooms which
+policy's <code>max_lifetime</code> is greater than 3 days).</p>
+<p>Keep in mind, when configuring these jobs, that a purge job can become
+quite heavy on the server if it targets many rooms, therefore prefer
+having jobs with a low interval that target a limited set of rooms. Also
+make sure to include a job with no minimum and one with no maximum to
+make sure your configuration handles every policy.</p>
+<p>As previously mentioned in this documentation, while a purge job that
+runs e.g. every day means that an expired event might stay in the
+database for up to a day after its expiry, Synapse hides expired events
+from clients as soon as they expire, so the event is not visible to
+local users between its expiry date and the moment it gets purged from
+the server's database.</p>
+<h3 id="lifetime-limits"><a class="header" href="#lifetime-limits">Lifetime limits</a></h3>
+<p>Server admins can set limits on the values of <code>max_lifetime</code> to use when
+purging old events in a room. These limits can be defined under the
+<code>retention</code> option in the configuration file:</p>
+<pre><code class="language-yaml">allowed_lifetime_min: 1d
+allowed_lifetime_max: 1y
+</code></pre>
+<p>The limits are considered when running purge jobs. If necessary, the
+effective value of <code>max_lifetime</code> will be brought between
+<code>allowed_lifetime_min</code> and <code>allowed_lifetime_max</code> (inclusive).
+This means that, if the value of <code>max_lifetime</code> defined in the room's state
+is lower than <code>allowed_lifetime_min</code>, the value of <code>allowed_lifetime_min</code>
+will be used instead. Likewise, if the value of <code>max_lifetime</code> is higher
+than <code>allowed_lifetime_max</code>, the value of <code>allowed_lifetime_max</code> will be
+used instead.</p>
+<p>In the example above, we ensure Synapse never deletes events that are less
+than one day old, and that it always deletes events that are over a year
+old.</p>
+<p>If a default policy is set, and its <code>max_lifetime</code> value is lower than
+<code>allowed_lifetime_min</code> or higher than <code>allowed_lifetime_max</code>, the same
+process applies.</p>
+<p>Both parameters are optional; if one is omitted Synapse won't use it to
+adjust the effective value of <code>max_lifetime</code>.</p>
+<p>Like other settings in this section, these parameters can be expressed
+either as a duration or as a number of milliseconds.</p>
+<h2 id="room-configuration"><a class="header" href="#room-configuration">Room configuration</a></h2>
+<p>To configure a room's message retention policy, a room's admin or
+moderator needs to send a state event in that room with the type
+<code>m.room.retention</code> and the following content:</p>
+<pre><code class="language-json">{
+    &quot;max_lifetime&quot;: ...
+}
+</code></pre>
+<p>In this event's content, the <code>max_lifetime</code> parameter has the same
+meaning as previously described, and needs to be expressed in
+milliseconds. The event's content can also include a <code>min_lifetime</code>
+parameter, which has the same meaning and limited support as previously
+described.</p>
+<p>Note that over every server in the room, only the ones with support for
+message retention policies will actually remove expired events. This
+support is currently not enabled by default in Synapse.</p>
+<h2 id="note-on-reclaiming-disk-space"><a class="header" href="#note-on-reclaiming-disk-space">Note on reclaiming disk space</a></h2>
+<p>While purge jobs actually delete data from the database, the disk space
+used by the database might not decrease immediately on the database's
+host. However, even though the database engine won't free up the disk
+space, it will start writing new data into where the purged data was.</p>
+<p>If you want to reclaim the freed disk space anyway and return it to the
+operating system, the server admin needs to run <code>VACUUM FULL;</code> (or
+<code>VACUUM;</code> for SQLite databases) on Synapse's database (see the related
+<a href="https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-vacuum.html">PostgreSQL documentation</a>).</p>
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