Very Computer

$What causes removed files' space to remain [according to /usr/bin/df] and not
$be freed until a reboot?

   Holding the file open while you delete it.  The file's space will
remain allocated until such time as the file is closed, at which time
it will be returned as free space.
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: What causes removed files' space to remain [according to /usr/bin/df] and not
: be freed until a reboot?

: This problem is hampering our application which is dynamically creating, and
: subsequently deleting, files.  After several days, the disk becomes "full",
: and only a reboot [which is NOT desirable in the operational environment] can
: remedy the situation.

You don't say if your application is one long running process but the
implication is that it is. Do you get your disk space back if you kill the
application without rebooting the system?

I assume you have checked /tmp is not filling up.

The most likly posibility is that some long running program is not closing
its temporary files even though it is removing them. Open files will remain
on disk even if rm'ed untill they are closed (which will happen when the
program dies).

Another possibility is your application or something else long running is
continually growing its virtual memory. ps should be able to spot this.
If the process virtual size keeps growing check the code for memory leaks.

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