On Thu, Mar 28, 2002 at 01:09:10PM -0000, Clawson, Simon wrote:
Hi!
Does anyone know what .nfs files are? How can we delete these files?
UNIX allows to delete a file that is still held open by another process. This will remove the directory entry but the file content, i.e. the used data blocks and inode information, will stay intact and the open file handle can be used until the final close operation.
NFS has to simulate this. Instead of removing the directory entry it is renamed to .nfsXXXXX, the directory entry is then later removed at close time.
If a client crashes the close never happens and the .nfsXXXXX entry remains. You have to delete it manually.
If you try to delete the .nfsXXXXX entry while the file is still held open it will just be renamed.