clri(8)
Name
clri − clear inodes
Syntax
/etc/clri filesystem i-number ...
Description
The clri command has been superseded by fsck() for normal file system repair work.
The clri command writes zeros on the i-nodes with the decimal i-numbers on the filesystem. After clri, any blocks in the affected file will show up as ‘missing’ in an icheck() of the filesystem.
Read and write permission is required on the specified file system device. The i-node becomes allocatable.
The primary purpose of this command is to remove a file which for some reason appears in no directory. If it is used to zap an i-node which does appear in a directory, care should be taken to track down the entry and remove it. Otherwise, when the i-node is reallocated to some new file, the old entry will still point to that file. At that point removing the old entry will destroy the new file. The new entry will again point to an unallocated i-node, so the whole cycle is likely to be repeated again and again.
Restrictions
If the file is open, clri is likely to be ineffective.