Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

[Martin Egholm Nielsen]

Hi there,

After removing a directory containing a lot of files, I get lots of the 
following messages on reboot (one for each of the files I removed):

Cannot remove child "file10.txt", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

It keeps returning even after rebooting...

How much should be put into this?
And how to "fix" it...

BR,
  Martin Egholm

Re: Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

[Martin Egholm Nielsen]

Hi again,

> After removing a directory containing a lot of files, I get lots of the 
> following messages on reboot (one for each of the files I removed):

> Cannot remove child "file10.txt", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

> It keeps returning even after rebooting...
Some more information:

The problem arose after creating a directory in my JFFS2 NAND fs, and 
creating some 1000 (small) files in it. After rebooting I removed the 
entire directory, and at the next reboot I got the error.

I'm running a 2.4.20 kernel but with mtd updated.

I didn't do the mtd update myself - this was handled by my board/linux 
vendor, but scanning the mtd-directory structure I found that the newest 
file in the structure seems to be "drivers/mtd/nand/s3c2410.c" from 
2004-10-12:

$Id: s3c2410.c,v 1.5 2004/10/12 10:10:15 bjd Exp $

The remainder of the files are dated somewhat similar...

Maybe this can clarify some things?

BR,
  Martin Egholm

Re: Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

[Estelle HAMMACHE]

Martin Egholm Nielsen wrote:
> 
> Hi again,
> 
> > After removing a directory containing a lot of files, I get lots of the
> > following messages on reboot (one for each of the files I removed):
> 
> > Cannot remove child "file10.txt", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

This might happen when the deletion dirent for the directory
is found, but the deletion dirent for the files are not found
(which should not happen during ordinary operation).
Exactly what command (or code) did you use to remove the file and
directory ? Did you umount correctly after that ?
Do you really get this message for each and every deleted file
or only part of them ?

> The problem arose after creating a directory in my JFFS2 NAND fs, and
> creating some 1000 (small) files in it. After rebooting I removed the
> entire directory, and at the next reboot I got the error.

This message is a notice. It should not prevent JFFS2 from running.
The directory and the files are considered as deleted.

Just out of curiosity, do you get these messages
"Eep. Child "fileXXXX" (ino #XXX) of dir ino #XX doesn't exist!"
previously to the "Cannot remove..." messages ?
If you don't, it might be interesting to get a trace with
debug enabled since the child inode cache should not disappear
between the build_inode_pass1 and remove_unlinked_inode.

Bye
Estelle

Re: Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

[Artem B. Bityuckiy]

Martin Egholm Nielsen wrote:
> Some more information:
> 
> The problem arose after creating a directory in my JFFS2 NAND fs, and 
> creating some 1000 (small) files in it. After rebooting I removed the 
> entire directory, and at the next reboot I got the error.

Is it real to look at JFFS2 debugging output?

--
Best Regards,
Artem B. Bityuckiy,
St.-Petersburg, Russia.

Re: Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

[Martin Egholm Nielsen]

Hi,

>>>After removing a directory containing a lot of files, I get lots of the
>>>following messages on reboot (one for each of the files I removed):
>>>Cannot remove child "file10.txt", ino #13, because it doesn't exist
> This might happen when the deletion dirent for the directory
> is found, but the deletion dirent for the files are not found
> (which should not happen during ordinary operation).
> Exactly what command (or code) did you use to remove the file and
> directory ? 
I used busybox's "rm" like:

rm -rf directory

 > Did you umount correctly after that ?
I did a "sync"...

> Do you really get this message for each and every deleted file
> or only part of them ?
Scanning the list, I now see that this message comes "only" for 298 out 
of 999 files...

>>The problem arose after creating a directory in my JFFS2 NAND fs, and
>>creating some 1000 (small) files in it. After rebooting I removed the
>>entire directory, and at the next reboot I got the error.
> This message is a notice. It should not prevent JFFS2 from running.
> The directory and the files are considered as deleted.
The system _is_ running - I'm just a little worried about the messages...

> Just out of curiosity, do you get these messages
> "Eep. Child "fileXXXX" (ino #XXX) of dir ino #XX doesn't exist!"
 > previously to the "Cannot remove..." messages ?
Yes! I actually do - I just didn't notice due to the sever amount of 
messages (and the limited buffer of my terminal window)...

=== 8< 8< 8< ===
Eep. Child "file38.txt" (ino #41) of dir ino #3 doesn't exist!
Eep. Child "file39.txt" (ino #42) of dir ino #3 doesn't exist!
Inode #3 was a directory with children - removing those too...
=== 8< 8< 8< ===
Cannot remove child "file38.txt", ino #41, because it doesn't exist
Cannot remove child "file39.txt", ino #42, because it doesn't exist
Inode #5014 was a directory with children - removing those too...

> If you don't, it might be interesting to get a trace with
> debug enabled since the child inode cache should not disappear
> between the build_inode_pass1 and remove_unlinked_inode.
So now that I _do_ get those - should I worry? Can I do anything to make 
the message disappear...
I'm little worried that it says "removing those too...", but when I 
reboot, the messages are back again?!

BR,
  Martin

Re: Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

[Martin Egholm Nielsen]

>>Some more information:
>>The problem arose after creating a directory in my JFFS2 NAND fs, and 
>>creating some 1000 (small) files in it. After rebooting I removed the 
>>entire directory, and at the next reboot I got the error.
> Is it real to look at JFFS2 debugging output?
Come again?

BR,
  Martin

Re: Cannot remove child "XXX", ino #13, because it doesn't exist

[Martin Egholm Nielsen]

Hi,

>>The problem arose after creating a directory in my JFFS2 NAND fs, and 
>>creating some 1000 (small) files in it. After rebooting I removed the 
>>entire directory, and at the next reboot I got the error.
> Is it real to look at JFFS2 debugging output?
After updating the mtd-code from CVS (2005-03-04) this problem is no 
longer reproducable...
Is there a better snapshot than CVS HEAD regarding stability?

// Martin