On Thu, Apr 27, 2000 at 05:57:36AM -0500, w trillich wrote:
> kmself@ix.netcom.com wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 26, 2000 at 11:12:18PM -0500, w trillich wrote:
> > > okay. it's my fault. i let the log file get huge--but deleting
> > > it doesn't recover the space on the partition!
> >
> > Common mistake.
> >
> > A file under Linux and Linux-like operating systems isn't deleted until
> > all filehandles to it are closed (I think). Deleting a large file to
> > free space is often the wrong thin to do. You've removed your ability
> > to access and modify the data, but you haven't done anything to the data
> > itself.
>
> i'd already checked the data* and just wanted it gone...
Slight miscommunication.
What I mean is that, if you delete a file which is still open, you've
removed the one thing (the file directory entry) which lets you do
anything *to* the data, without having done anything *about* the data.
You can't list the file, move it, copy it, copy an empty file into it,
etc. But you're still stuck with a bunch of allocated disk clusters
that are sucking space.
[...]
> *so, any guess which process had the file open?
>
> yup, it was me:
>
> grep -v undefined < /var/log/apache/error.log | more &
>
> (i did the background& after trying it in the foreground and
> seeing how long it was taking... but then forgot all about
> the background one i'd started. <blush>heh, heh</blush>.)
I have never, *never*, had that happen to me <g>
Happy to help.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http:/www.netcom.com/~kmself
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/
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