Delete system log file but the space not released

yuanjunliang · 04-23-2009, 11:15 AM

I have empty the log file using:
cat /dev/null >/var/spool/compaq/cma.log
but the space is not released.

I checked the process which opening the log file, but no process found.
lsof /var/spool/compaq/cma.log

Could you please let me know how to find the process. I don't want to reboot the system.

Thanks,

Julie

MensaWater · 04-23-2009, 03:09 PM

It may be that due to an "open" of file by some process your cat didn't work on the existing inode but instead made it delete the name and create it on a new inode.

What you might try is to run:
lsof |grep " REG " |more
scan the "SIZE" column to see if there are any large sized files that have no name. The PID associated with any such you find is likely the one that has the old inode "open". Killing such a PID would free the space. However, you'd want to examine the PID with ps first to be sure it is something safe to kill.