[lug] Filesystem attributes (lsattr/chattr): how to deal with files with "I" attrbitute?

[Nate Duehr]

Delete by inode number.  Piece of cake.  What made it so difficult?

--
Nate Duehr
Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 22, 2009, at 12:31, Davide Del Vento  
<davide.del.vento at gmail.com> wrote:

> Speaking of weird unremovable files, on our system (AIX, but I think
> the same might happen in linux) an user created a (nameless)
> directory, containing a (nameless) hard link to itself. Besides the
> difficulties to specify the nameless entry, we cannot remove it,
> because it's not empty, neither with "rm -r" because it's an infinite
> loop.
> Bye
> ;Dav
>
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 11:26, Michael J. Hammel
> <mjhammel at graphics-muse.org> wrote:
>> A guy at work has a file on a linux box that has an attribute (from
>> lsattr) of "I" (uppercase i).  Lowercase i is immutable.  Uppercase I
>> means, quoting the chattr man page:
>>
>> The  'I'  attribute  is used by the htree code to indicate that a
>> directory is being indexed using hashed trees.  It may not be set or
>> reset using chattr(1), although it can be displayed by lsattr(1).
>>
>> What the heck does that mean?  From his perspective it means the file
>> cannot be removed, not even by root.  So how do you get rid of it?   
>> The
>> directory is empty.  Will a reboot clear that attribute so the  
>> directory
>> can be removed?
>>
>> --
>> Michael J. Hammel                                    Principal  
>> Software Engineer
>> mjhammel at graphics-muse.org                           http://graphics-muse.org
>> --- 
>> --- 
>> --- 
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one  
>> individual
>> who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very  
>> often, that
>> individual is crazy. -- Unknown.
>>
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