Rolf Gerrits <rm.gerrits@xxxxxxxxxxx> initially asked: > > I have a problem removing files from the /tmp directory ... > At startup the system cannot remove them either > > <snip> > ------s-w- 1 rpm 20752 16384 Jan 15 1971 linc-160f-0-2c899751e4a49 > -----ws--x 1 rpm 49661 16384 Jan 1 1970 linc-d19-0-5e596cf89dd0e > -----ws--x 1 rpm 49661 16384 Jan 1 1970 linc-d1b-0-5e596cf865a39 > -----ws--x 1 rpm 49661 8192 Jan 1 1970 linc-d38-0-5fcf32a247496 > -----ws--x 1 rpm 49661 16384 Jan 1 1970 > OSL_PIPE_500_SingleOfficeIPC_5c953c8cde59b25240dbf8a4df6a2ff6 > ------Sr-- 1 rpm 16832 28672 Jan 1 1970 virtual-rolf.usyUMr > <snip> > > This probably happened with the recent crashes I have with my FC4/6 > system ( or maybe they are the cause of it ? ) > .... any suggestions ? > > Rolf I had suggested he examine the output of "lsattr -a *", which showed: > ----i----j--T linc-160f-0-2c899751e4a49 > s--D-a-A-j-t- linc-d19-0-5e596cf89dd0e > ---D-a-A-j-t- linc-d1b-0-5e596cf865a39 > s--D-ad--j-t- linc-d38-0-5fcf32a247496 > suS--a-----t- OSL_PIPE_500_SingleOfficeIPC_5c953c8cde59b25240dbf8a4df6a2ff6 > --S-i--A-j--T virtual-rolf.usyUMr Based on "info chattr" output, we can translate these mode bits as: a - append only, c - compressed, d - no dump, i - immutable, j - data journalling, s - secure deletion, t - no tail-merging, u - undeletable, A - no atime updates , D - synchronous directory updates, S - synchronous updates, T - top of directory hierarchy. So basically, Rolf's got some set-gid files he can't erase as root because the files attribute bits (the lsattr/chattr stuff, not the file mode bits) are preventing it. Thus, from where I sit, it looks like the following ought to do the job (and I tested this by creating some files matching the modes/attributes Rolf reported): $ cd /tmp $ su # chattr -sDiaAjtT linc* # rm -f ./linc* # chattr -SiAjT virtual-rolf.usyUMr # rm -f virtual-rolf.usyUMr # chattr -suSat OSL_PIPE_500_SingleOfficeIPC_5c953c8cde59b25240dbf8a4df6a2ff6 # rm -f OSL_PIPE_500_SingleOfficeIPC_5c953c8cde59b25240dbf8a4df6a2ff6 # exit # ls -l /tmp As an aside: 99.99% of Linux programs don't mess with file attribute bits. The only time I've seen these attributes modified in a non-orange-book-secure (i.e.: SELinux) environment was done as part of a script-kiddie break-in/root-hack. Because of this, I'm gonna ask: are you sure you're not being hacked even as you try and resolve this? Suggest at a minimum, you pick up a copy of chkrootkit available through http://www.chkrootkit.org and run it. Note however, that if you're running SELinux, your mileage may vary about a lot of this stuff. Hope this helps, -S