Re: [BUG] "git clean -df ." silently doesn't delete folders with stale .nfs* files

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

Yuri <yuri@rawbw.com> writes:

> On 6/10/24 12:58, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> So "was supposed to remove" above is not quite correct. Where did
>> such a piece of misinformation come from?
>
>
> "git clean -df ." removes all files that
>
> (1) aren't added to the repo
>
> (2) aren't added as exceptions
>
> (3) aren't repo files themselves.

But .nfs* files are not something you as an application are not
supposed to touch, so a directory that still contains one cannot be
removed, either.

It's a limitation (I wouldn't call it a "bug") of NFS.  You can kill
the process (or wait until they exit) holding the file open and then
run "clean -df" again, perhaps.

A few Google searches tell us more, e.g.

 - https://nfs.sourceforge.net/#faq_d2
 - https://kb.netapp.com/on-prem/ontap/da/NAS/NAS-KBs/What_are_nfsXXXX_files_and_how_do_I_delete_them

They tell us what these files, which are the result of "silly
rename", are, why they exist, and that they will appear again even
if we remove them.  So we don't remove them, which means the
directory that contains them will not become empty, which in turn
means we do not remove them.