Files deleted but process open

Question

My /dev/md1 is full

# du -x -m --max-depth=1 | sort -n

shows

0   ./dev
0   ./proc
0   ./sys
1   ./home
1   ./lost+found
1   ./media
1   ./mnt
1   ./selinux
1   ./srv
1   ./tmp
4   ./lib32
6   ./bin
7   ./etc
13   ./boot
13   ./sbin
15   ./lib
236   ./root
1047   ./usr
5392   ./opt
11702   ./var
18431   .

There are files that have been deleted but open processes are still active. The result :

# lsof | grep 'deleted'

shows

mysqld     2881      mysql    4u      REG                9,1          0     393317 /tmp/ib16UZEE (deleted)
mysqld     2881      mysql    5u      REG                9,1        798     393318 /tmp/ibqA5RvA (deleted)
mysqld     2881      mysql    6u      REG                9,1          0     393319 /tmp/ibfXpKmw (deleted)
mysqld     2881      mysql    7u      REG                9,1          0     393322 /tmp/ibcluSds (deleted)
mysqld     2881      mysql   11u      REG                9,1          0     393323 /tmp/ib9jDsiu (deleted)
python     4502      plone    5u      REG                9,1     453508     393757 /tmp/tmp2Npr1b.tbuf (deleted)
python     4502      plone    6u      REG                9,1   20971520     393766 /tmp/tmps3e2Bl (deleted)
python     4529      plone    5u      REG                9,1          0     393724 /tmp/tmpJoTgfW.tbuf (deleted)
python     4529      plone    6u      REG                9,1   20971520     393762 /tmp/tmph-di8Z (deleted)
imap       4744  mailboxes    7u      REG                9,2        496   21244100 /home/mail/noveltys.fr/contact/dovecot.index (deleted)
imap       4759  mailboxes   10u      REG                9,2      37720   21244660 /home/mail/noveltys.fr/xxxxx/dovecot.index (deleted)
python     5857      plone    7u      REG                9,1       2174     405341 /tmp/tmpCB3Rk1.tbuf (deleted)
python     5857      plone   11u      REG                9,1  134217728     405343 /tmp/tmpqPyaAD (deleted)
python     5857      plone   18u      REG                9,1       4096     405288 /tmp/ffi672jsh (deleted)
python     5871      plone    7u      REG                9,1          0     405342 /tmp/tmpVSEquV.tbuf (deleted)
python     5871      plone   11u      REG                9,1  134217728     405344 /tmp/tmpt7QsPV (deleted)
python     5871      plone   18u      REG                9,1       4096     405287 /tmp/ffiqNqmsh (deleted)
imap      25060  mailboxes    7u      REG                9,2     262576   21244694 /home/mail/noveltys.fr/yyyyy/dovecot.index (deleted)

If I delete these files does it diminish the size of / var ?

If yes, how to remove these and can I remove them ?

If not, you have another idea ?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 04 '15 at 19:27

Linux allows you to delete a file even when it's still open in another program.

Even though you won't see the file in directory lists, it is still there until that other program closes it.

Once those programs close the file, or you kill the processes, or you reboot the server, you'll get your disk space back.

Files deleted but process open

1 Answers1