LFS-RM_ENTRY(8)

📦 version 2.17.58, in ubuntu stonking

💖 LFS-RM_ENTRY 💖

okay so bestie, this is lfs-rm_entry (also answers to lfs-rmentry), from the Lustre Utilities crew ✨ and it does exactly one thing: it removes only the filename from a directory. that's it. that's the whole vibe. 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

lfs-rm_entry, lfs-rmentry — remove only filename from directory 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

lfs rm_entry DIRECTORY

lfs rmentry DIRECTORY

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the situation, and it's lowkey a mess 😭: maybe an MDT is permanently offline, or maybe there's an inconsistency between MDT directory contents and files — like a broken striped directory, the classic 🎀.

in those cases, the lfs rm_entry (or lfs rmentry) command removes only the directory entry name from the parent directory. it does not try to delete the inode corresponding to the filename. nope. not even a little. 🙈

so what happens to that inode? the MDT inode itself — or a local agent inode in the case of DNE remote entries — will still remain on the MDT filesystem, and it will get reconnected to the internal MDT lost+found directory the next time e2fsck(8) runs. the way it just comes back like that?? main character energy fr fr 👑

and because the MDT inode itself is not deleted, any OST objects referenced by this inode will also not be destroyed — so no space will be released. zero. none. nada. i know. 💀

SIS. READ THIS. 🚨 the main reason you'd use lfs rm_entry is to remove directory entry names that are permanently inaccessible — so you can allow them to be restored from backup, or so applications stop throwing errors when they try to access these names. It should not be used to delete files that are normally accessible. periodt. ✋

also this command can only be run by the root user (administrator). so if you don't have the permissions, don't even try it, bestie. 🙅

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

removing a directory entry that references an inaccessible remote MDT — iconic, brave, necessary:

# lfs rm_entry /mnt/lustre/broken_dir

💜 AVAILABILITY 💜

the lfs rm_entry command is part of the lustre(7) filesystem package. it's giving "shipped with the whole family" 🫶

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

that's the whole page, bestie, go forth and clean up those broken entries responsibly 💖 this was Lustre, dated 2025-12-20 — stan, and don't forget to back up first 🌸💅✨

📦 where this page comes from