Re: unexpected rm error
> -----Original Message-----
> From: martinwguy@yahoo.it
> Sent: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:53:55 +0000
> To: linux@codehelp.co.uk
> Subject: Re: unexpected rm error
>
>>> rm: unable to remove `/tmp/usr/include/linux': Directory not empty
>>
>> Files in use?
>
> No, in Unix you can unlink a file that is open - the file persists
> with no name until the last open file descriptor to it is closed; then
> its space is freed (well, actually, under Linux it does have a phantom
> name as /proc/*/fd/* - a useful trick for recovering the contents of a
> deleted file that some living process still has open :D
>
> You cannot unlink a directory on which another filesystem is mounted,
> but I don't think that is the case here.
>
> I have seen identical symptoms on NFS-mounted volumes, but NFS is such
> a croaking load of dingoes' kidneys that I was just not surprised.
>
> Was /tmp a tmpfs volume or a ramfs volume?
> (ie what is the output of "mount" or "cat /proc/mounts"?)
>
I am infact using nfs as my root filesystem but I'm mounting /tmp as tmpfs.
The filesystem in /tmp is an unused uncompressed filesystem I've been testing with.
When I do a rm, I'm still on my nfs filesystem and was simply removing /tmp to repopulate it.
So, technically no files has been opened.
Reply to: