Viewing: lfs-unlink_foreign.1
.TH LFS-UNLINK_FOREIGN 1 2025-12-20 Lustre "Lustre User Utilities"
.SH NAME
lfs-unlink_foreign \- remove foreign files or directories
.SH SYNOPSIS
.SY "lfs unlink_foreign"
.I FILE
.RI [ FILE " ...]"
.YS
.SH DESCRIPTION
Remove files or directories with foreign layouts (LOV/LMV) that are normally
prevented from being removed using regular
.BR unlink (2)
or
.BR rmdir (2)
system calls. This command also works for regular files and directories.
.PP
Foreign files and directories are special Lustre objects that reference
external data or metadata not stored in the Lustre filesystem. They are
typically used for:
.IP \(bu 3
Symlink-like references to external storage systems
.IP \(bu 3
Integration with external data management systems
.IP \(bu 3
Placeholder objects for data stored elsewhere
.PP
Some foreign types are protected from normal removal operations to preserve
references to external objects. The
.B lfs unlink_foreign
command bypasses this protection and allows removal of these objects.
.SH OPTIONS
This command takes no options other than the file or directory paths to remove.
.SH EXAMPLES
Remove a single foreign file:
.RS
.EX
.B $ lfs unlink_foreign /mnt/lustre/foreign_file
.EE
.RE
.PP
Remove multiple foreign files and directories:
.RS
.EX
.B $ lfs unlink_foreign /mnt/lustre/foreign1 /mnt/lustre/foreign_dir
.EE
.RE
.SH NOTES
This command can also remove regular (non-foreign) files and directories,
though using standard
.BR rm (1)
or
.BR rmdir (1)
commands is preferred for regular files.
.PP
Foreign files and directories are created using the
.BR llapi_file_create_foreign (3)
and
.BR llapi_dir_create_foreign (3)
library functions.
.SH AVAILABILITY
The
.B lfs unlink_foreign
command is part of the
.BR lustre (7)
filesystem package.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR lfs (1),
.BR llapi_dir_create_foreign (3),
.BR llapi_file_create_foreign (3),
.BR llapi_unlink_foreign (3),
.BR rm (1),
.BR rmdir (1)
