cc'ing linux-fsdevel too. On 22/01/27 07:06AM, Maxim Blinov wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm not a subscriber to this list (so please put me in the CC), but I've > hit a really annoying un-googleable issue that I don't know who to ask > about. > > A runaway script has been recursively creating sub-directories under > sub-directories until it hit the (apparent) OS limit. The path in > question goes something like this: > > /work/build-native/binutils-gdb/gnulib/confdir3/confdir3/confdir3/confdir3/confdir3/........ > (you get the idea) > > It was only stopped by the following error: > mkdir: cannot create directory 'confdir3': File name too long > > OK, fine, that was silly but whatever, right? I tried to delete this > huge directory from the top with ;) > > rm -rf confdir3/ > > but that simply generated the same error as above. So, I figured "Hey, Strange. Though I didn't try creating same name subdirectories like how you have done above i.e. confdir3 within confdir3 and recurse. But I was able to remove the parent directory after hitting the max PATH_LEN issue. I ran this test below test to see if it fails on my ext4 latest tree. But this passes. https://github.com/pjd/pjdfstest/blob/master/tests/mkdir/03.t But just curious, by any chance did below fixes it for you? echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches -ritesh > I'll just walk all the way to the bottom, and delete the directories > one-by-one bottom up". Here's the script I ran to get to the bottom: > > $ for i in $(seq 999999); do echo "im $i levels deep"; cd confdir3; done; > > It then ran for a while, and eventually I got to the bottom: > > ``` > ... > im 892 levels deep > im 893 levels deep > im 894 levels deep > im 895 levels deep > im 896 levels deep > bash: cd: confdir3: File name too long > $ ls > <nothing here> > ``` > > So then, I `cd ../`, and `rmdir confdir3`, but even here, I get > > rmdir: failed to remove 'confdir3/': File name too long > > I would be very grateful if someone could please help suggest how I > might get this infernal tower of directories off of my precious ext4 > partition. > > I was thinking maybe there's some kind of magic "forget this directory > inode ever existed" command, but I am out of my depth with filesystems. > > Best Regards, > > Maxim Blinov
