CLRI(8)

💅 clri — clear an inode ✨

okay so bestie, this one is a whole manual page about <italic>clri</italic> from the System Manager's Manual — yes it's giving very "your weird uncle's UNIX toolbox" energy but stay with me, it's actually kind of iconic for emergency situations 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

clri special_device inode_number ...

like literally just the device and then a whole parade of inode numbers, periodt 💫

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so first thing you need to know: <italic>clri</italic> is obsoleted for normal file system repair work by fsck(8). like, it's not the main character anymore, fsck(8) ate and left no crumbs 💅

what <italic>clri</italic> actually does is zero out the inodes with the specified <italic>inode_number</italic>(s) on the file system residing on the given <italic>special_device</italic>. basically it goes in and wipes them clean like a fresh slate 🌈

then, the fsck(8) utility is usually run after clri to reclaim the zeroed inode(s) and the blocks previously claimed by those inode(s) — so clri does the messy part and fsck(8) comes in afterwards to clean up the vibe 😭

oh and important: both read and write permission are required on the specified <italic>special_device</italic>. no permission, no slay 🙈

the primary purpose of this routine is to remove a file which for some reason is not being properly handled by fsck(8). once removed, it is anticipated that fsck(8) will be able to clean up the resulting mess. so it's like the emergency backup dancer when the main choreography isn't working 🎀

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• fsck(8)
• fsdb(8)

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👑 HISTORY 👑

the <italic>clri</italic> utility first appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX — like, ancient. vintage. a true elder of the game 🧚

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💀 BUGS 💀

⚠️ if the file is open, the work of clri will be lost when the inode is written back to disk from the inode cache. like it literally just evaporates, no cap 😭💀

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and that's the whole page bestie — brought to you by Debian, dated October 5, 2016, from the System Manager's Manual. stay safe, back up your inodes, and remember: fsck(8) is usually the one you want 💖✨