Delete files in /var/spool/mqueue

HLisD1 · 04-26-2006, 12:17 PM

RedHat 7.3
./spool/mqueue is 2.9 GB and the root parition is 100% full. In order to recover space until I can get to the root cause of the problem I want to delete the files in mqueue. I've stopped Sendmail and tried rm -rf * . . . which give the following error: bash:/bin/rm: Argument list too long. What steps should I take?

satinet · 04-26-2006, 12:30 PM

why are you using 3 dots (...)?

i would cd to the directory then type rm -rf *.

make sure you're in the correct directory though!

i.e not "/"

HLisD1 · 04-26-2006, 01:25 PM

cd var/spool/mqueue
rm -rf *

This did not work. Still giving error: bash:/bin/rm: Argument list too long message. Additionl suggestions would be appreciated.

marozsas · 04-26-2006, 01:58 PM

There are too many files on mqueue !
Go to a directory below and remove mqueue (rm -rf mqueue).
Before that, take note owner/permissions of mqueue (ls -ld mqueue) to be able to re-create it with the same permissions (chown, chmod).

nishidwivedi · 04-27-2006, 08:17 AM

try >/var/spool/mqueue

U might need to have permissions to do this.
Check if u have sudo access