CLRI(VIII) 10/31/73 CLRI(VIII)
NAME
clri - clear i-node
SYNOPSIS
clri i-number [ filesystem ]
DESCRIPTION
Clri writes zeros on the 32 bytes occupied by the i-node
numbered i-number. If the file system argument is given,
the i-node resides on the given device, otherwise on a
default file system. The file system argument must be a
special file name referring to a device containing a file
system. After clri, any blocks in the affected file will
show up as ``missing'' in a check of of the file system.
Read and write permission is required on the specified file
system device. The i-node becomes allocatable.
The primary purpose of this routine is to remove a file
which for some reason appears in no directory. If it is
used to zap an i-node which does appear in a directory, care
should be taken to track down the entry and remove it.
Otherwise, when the i-node is reallocated to some new file,
the old entry will still point to that file. At that point
removing the old entry will destroy the new file. The new
entry will again point to an unallocated i-node, so the
whole cycle is likely to be repeated again and again.
BUGS
Whatever the default file system is, it is likely to be
wrong. Specify the file system explicitly.
If the file is open, clri is likely to be ineffective.