[PLUG] Re: df shows 33G used, but it does not add up with du

[Eric Wilhelm]

# from Randal L. Schwartz
# on Thursday 12 January 2006 08:11 am:

>There's nothing misbehaving about deleting a file that is open. 

Of course not.  But deleting 10GB of open files is a different beast.  
The OP's situation suggests that there were either several long-running 
programs each with 1-2 large open fd's or maybe one MCP with delusions 
of grandeur.

> That's a long-standing design strategy for getting a file that you
> need for an operation, but won't need once the program is finished
> (for any reason).

Certainly a valid one, but 10GB!?  If these are some kind of tempfile, 
then I would definitely call it a bug that they were still open (unless 
the program is documented as requiring that much temp space.)  Did the 
program expect to finish much earlier?  Is it in a hung state?  If it's 
just that the user deleted files trying to free-up disk space, then I 
guess the program needs a feature to respond to that.  One should not 
need to reboot to reclaim one's disk space.

Having open fd's on deleted files is not a bug, but in this case I think 
it could be a symptom of something wrong (who's fault it is or whether 
it's a big deal would require a bit more info.)

--Eric
-- 
If the collapse of the Berlin Wall had taught us anything, it was that
socialism alone was not a sustainable economic model.
--Robert Young
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