VOP_REMOVE(9)

💅 VOP_REMOVE(9) — the Kernel Developer's Manual, bestie edition 🎀

okay so welcome to the Kernel Developer's Manual, specifically the page about yeeting files and directories out of existence. this is VOP_REMOVE, and its partner in crime VOP_RMDIR. they're literally the "delete" buttons of the vnode world. no cap.

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✨ NAME ✨

VOP_REMOVE, VOP_RMDIR — remove a file or directory 🗑️✨

like, one of them removes a file, the other removes a directory, and honestly? iconic behavior.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/vnode.h>

int
VOP_REMOVE(struct vnode *dvp, struct vnode *vp,
    struct componentname *cnp);

int
VOP_RMDIR(struct vnode *dvp, struct vnode *vp,
    struct componentname *cnp);

these are the exact signatures, don't come for me, copy them character for character bestie 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so these entry points remove files and directories respectively. that's it. that's the vibe. VOP_REMOVE handles files, VOP_RMDIR handles directories, and they both take the same three arguments.

the arguments are:

• dvp — the vnode of the directory 👑 (the parent, the one holding the door open)
• vp — the vnode of the file to be removed 🌸 (the one getting evicted)
• cnp — pathname information about the file 🎀 (all the name-y details)

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🔒 LOCKS 🔒

both dvp and vp should be locked on entry and remain locked on return. like, they walk in locked, they walk out locked. no unlocking on the way through, periodt. 🔐

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⭐ RETURN VALUES ⭐

zero is returned on success 🥳 otherwise an error code is returned 😭 — that's the whole deal.

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💀 ERRORS 💀

• [EPERM] — the file is immutable. it said "not today", bestie, it cannot be changed or removed 🙈
• [ENOTEMPTY] — an attempt was made to remove a directory which is not empty. you can't just rmdir a folder full of stuff, the folder is giving "I have attachments" energy 💅

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• vnode(9)
• VOP_LOOKUP(9)

go read those too, iykyk 🫶

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

this manual page was written by Doug Rabson. thank you Doug, you ate 🔥

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and that's the whole page, babes — this little beauty came from the Debian crowd and it's dated July 24, 1996, which is honestly vintage in the most iconic way 🎀✨💜