NILFS_CLEANERD(8)

💖 NILFS_CLEANERD 💖

okay bestie, pull up a chair, because we're talking about a system daemon from the System Manager's Manual section, and honestly? she's kind of a queen. this is nilfs_cleanerd, aka the NILFS2 garbage collector, and she is here to free up your disk space. no cap. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

nilfs_cleanerd — the NILFS2 garbage collector. that's it, that's the name, and she knows exactly what she is 🗑️💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

nilfs_cleanerd [-hV]

nilfs_cleanerd [options] device [directory]

two whole moods: the little quick -hV one, and the full-blown options device directory one. pick your fighter. 🎀

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

nilfs_cleanerd is a system daemon whose whole job, her entire main character energy, is reclaiming disk space on a NILFS2 file system found in device. she's the cleaner. she's the one who shows up after the party and makes the place spotless. obsessed. 🧹🫶

the optional directory argument tells her where the mount point is — the place where the daemon operates. important detail: it must be an r/w-mount. r/w only, bestie. if it's not read-write she cannot and will not. 🚫

this program can get invoked two ways:

• automatically by mount.nilfs2(8) — the chill way
• manually by an administrator — the DIY way

but here's the thing, and listen carefully: users are recommended to invoke nilfs_cleanerd through mount.nilfs2(8) or mount(8), and shut it down through umount.nilfs2(8) or umount(8). why?? because doing it any other way risks state inconsistencies among administration tools. the tools need to be on the same page. don't start drama between your daemons, i'm begging. 😭

also, when she starts up, nilfs_cleanerd displays its process ID (pid) to standard output. she announces herself. as she should. 👑

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -V, --version — display version and exit. short, sweet, and she's out. ✌️
• -h, --help — display help message and exit. when you need a little guidance. 🥺
• -c file, --conf=file — specify configuration file. you pick the file, she reads the file. 🤝
• -p interval, --protection-period=interval — override the protection period with the specified number of seconds. she's protecting things. for a specific amount of seconds. iconic behaviour, honestly. ⏳

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🎀 SIGNALS 🎀

nilfs_cleanerd reacts to a set of signals. she's responsive! she listens! unlike some daemons we know. 💀

you may send a signal to nilfs_cleanerd using the PID shown by the mount command (or found in /etc/mtab). here's the little ritual:

# mount -t nilfs2
/dev/sdb1 on /nilfs type nilfs2 (rw,gcpid=PID)
# kill -SIGNAL PID

see that gcpid=PID? that's her. that's your girl. write it down. 📝

• SIGHUP — this lets nilfs_cleanerd perform a re-initialization. the configuration file (default is /etc/nilfs_cleanerd.conf) will be reread. she's refreshing herself, glow-up style. 💖
• SIGINT, SIGTERM — nilfs_cleanerd will exit cleanly. no mess, no drama, just a graceful little goodbye. 🚪✨
• SIGUSR1 — this lets nilfs_cleanerd dump the state into the system logger. she's journaling. very self-aware of her. 🫶
• SIGUSR2 — reserved for future use. this signal is ignored. ⚠️ and now for the plot twist: if the version of nilfs-utils is equal to or older than 2.2.5, this lets nilfs_cleanerd die. not exit cleanly, not wave goodbye — die. so pls, check your version before you get chaotic. 🪦😭

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🌈 FILES 🌈

• /etc/nilfs_cleanerd.conf — the configuration file for nilfs_cleanerd. see nilfs_cleanerd.conf(5) for the details, bestie, it's all in there. 📂

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Koji Sato, Ryusuke Konishi <konishi.ryusuke@gmail.com>.

legends. absolute legends. bow down. 🙇‍♀️💜

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⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

nilfs_cleanerd is part of the nilfs-utils package and is available from https://nilfs.sourceforge.io. go get her. 🛍️

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

nilfs(8), mount.nilfs2(8), umount.nilfs2(8), nilfs_cleanerd.conf(5).

the whole friend group. iykyk. 🌸

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was nilfs-utils version 2.3, dated Jan 2026 — so when you're out there reclaiming disk space, just remember: stay clean, stay r/w-mounted, and never send SIGUSR2 to an old version unless you want tragedy. 💅🔥 bye!! 🦋