Xref: utzoo comp.unix.questions:8144 comp.unix.wizards:9817 comp.sys.apollo:1107 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!tness7!killer!mit-eddie!rich From: rich@eddie.MIT.EDU (Richard Caloggero) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.wizards,comp.sys.apollo Subject: File space allocation/deallocation under Unix (BSD4.x) Keywords: Unix, BSD, File, Delete Message-ID: <9662@eddie.MIT.EDU> Date: 12 Jul 88 16:18:56 GMT Organization: MIT EE/CS Computer Facility, Cambridge, MA Lines: 17 If you create a directory "d", then create a file "d/f" 1 megabyte long (big), then "rm d/f", is it true that the space remains allocated to directory "d" and cannot be garbage collected or otherwise reclaimed until another file is created in directory "d" or "d" is deleted? If this is true, why? What good does it do to delete files, say, in your home directory (if, for example, disk resources are low and you system administrator keeps hounding you to "clean up your directory")? -- -- Rich (rich@eddie.mit.edu). The circle is open, but unbroken. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.