NAME

clri − clear i-node

SYNOPSIS

/etc/clri special i-number ... 

DESCRIPTION

clri writes nulls on the 64 bytes at offset i-number from the start of the i-node list.  This effectively eliminates the i-node at that address.  Special is the device name on which a file system has been defined.  After clri is executed, any blocks in the affected file will show up as “not accounted for” when fsck(1M) is run against the file-system. The i-node may be allocated to a new file.

Read and write permission is required on the specified special device. 

This command is used to remove a file which appears in no directory; that is, to get rid of a file which cannot be removed with the rm command. 

SEE ALSO

fs(4), fsck(1M), fsdb(1M), ncheck(1M), rm(1). 

WARNINGS

If the file is open for writing, clri will not work.  The file system containing the file should NOT be mounted. 

If clri is used on the i-node number of a file that does appear in a directory, it is imperative to remove the entry in the directory at once, since the i-node may be allocated to a new file.  The old directory entry, if not removed, continues to point to the same file.  This sounds like a link, but does not work like one.  Removing the old entry destroys the new file. 

September 02, 1992