root file system full

philheckler · 05-21-2007, 03:58 AM

Hi,

I work in the semiconductor industry and our test systems are unix based running sol2 - today I had a problem with one of our test systems complaining that the / file system was full - which it was - usually this is due to a core dump in root which is easy to fix - but this time I couldn't find the file space hog - in the end I found a file in /var/mail called root - I more'd this file and it looked to contain the cumulation of all the system messages that had been sent to this file since we installed the tester 6 years ago - now I'm a real noob at unix system admin (got it dumped on me when our sys admin guy left) - is is safe to just delete this file?

Phil.

kinbard · 05-21-2007, 03:05 PM

I don't know much about this file, but I wouldn't delete it until I moved it elsewhere for awhile.

philheckler · 05-22-2007, 01:47 AM

Hi,

That's exactly what I did - this file is just a storage medium for mails generated by cron job's etc - and in our case it hadn't been cleaned since 2004 - i mv 'd it and when re checked an hour later a new version had appeared (much smaller of course) - and my root file system was ok..

Phil.

kinbard · 05-22-2007, 07:19 AM

Then it looks like it would be OK to delete it. Wow, 2004! Talk about information. I would hate the nightmare of checking through that file...

05-21-2007, 03:58 AM	#1 (permalink)
philheckler Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 98 OS: xp	root file system full Hi, I work in the semiconductor industry and our test systems are unix based running sol2 - today I had a problem with one of our test systems complaining that the / file system was full - which it was - usually this is due to a core dump in root which is easy to fix - but this time I couldn't find the file space hog - in the end I found a file in /var/mail called root - I more'd this file and it looked to contain the cumulation of all the system messages that had been sent to this file since we installed the tester 6 years ago - now I'm a real noob at unix system admin (got it dumped on me when our sys admin guy left) - is is safe to just delete this file? Phil. __________________ ASUS A8NSLI DELUXE / ATHOLN 3800 X2 @ 2.5 2GB DDR400 (PC3200) / 2X80GB SATA 8800gts 640 @ 600/1900 SEASONIC P12 600W PSU

05-21-2007, 03:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
kinbard Hardware Tech Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 2,365 OS: Solaris 10, XP,SuSE10, 10.3,11, Freespire,PCLinuxOS, Vista HP, and a partridge in a pear tree	Re: root file system full I don't know much about this file, but I wouldn't delete it until I moved it elsewhere for awhile. __________________ Half viking, half pirate, stronger than both 5 Steps XP Repair

05-22-2007, 01:47 AM	#3 (permalink)
philheckler Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 98 OS: xp	Re: root file system full Hi, That's exactly what I did - this file is just a storage medium for mails generated by cron job's etc - and in our case it hadn't been cleaned since 2004 - i mv 'd it and when re checked an hour later a new version had appeared (much smaller of course) - and my root file system was ok.. Phil. __________________ ASUS A8NSLI DELUXE / ATHOLN 3800 X2 @ 2.5 2GB DDR400 (PC3200) / 2X80GB SATA 8800gts 640 @ 600/1900 SEASONIC P12 600W PSU

05-22-2007, 07:19 AM	#4 (permalink)
kinbard Hardware Tech Team Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 2,365 OS: Solaris 10, XP,SuSE10, 10.3,11, Freespire,PCLinuxOS, Vista HP, and a partridge in a pear tree	Re: root file system full Then it looks like it would be OK to delete it. Wow, 2004! Talk about information. I would hate the nightmare of checking through that file... __________________ Half viking, half pirate, stronger than both 5 Steps XP Repair