sys_unlink  [fs/namei.c]


Removes a link to a file.

Arguments

eax 10
ebx

Pointer to a null-terminated string specifying the pathname.

  • If pathname refers to a last link to a file and no processes have the file open the file is deleted.
  • If pathname refers to a last link to a file but some processes still have the file open the file will remain in existence until the last file descriptor referring to it is closed.
  • If pathname refers to a symbolic link the link is removed. Any file or directory named by the contents of the symbolic link is not affected.
  • If pathname refers to a socket, FIFO or device the name for it is removed but processes which have the object open may continue to use it.

Return values

If the system call succeeds the return value is 0.
If the system call fails the return value is one of the following errno values:

-EACCES Write access to the directory containing the pathname is not allowed for the process's effective UID, or one of the directories in pathname did not allow search permission.
-EFAULT ebx points outside your accessible address space.
-EIO An I/O error occurred.
-EISDIR Pathname refers to a directory. (This is the non-POSIX value returned by Linux since 2.1.132.)
-ELOOP Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating pathname.
-ENAMETOOLONG Pathname was too long.
-ENOENT A component in pathname does not exist or is a dangling symbolic link, or pathname is empty.
-ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.
-ENOTDIR A component used as a directory in pathname is not, in fact, a directory.
-EPERM The filesystem does not allow unlinking of files.
-EPERM,
-EACCES
The directory containing pathname has the sticky bit (S_ISVTX) set and the process's effective UID is neither the UID of the file to be deleted nor that of the directory containing it, and the process is not privileged (does not have the CAP_FOWNER capability).
-EROFS Pathname pointed by ebx refers to a file on a read-only filesystem.

Remarks

Infelicities in the protocol underlying NFS can cause the unexpected disappearance of files which are still being used.

Compatibility

n/a