Re: rm software problem..

[Bob Proulx]

Virgil Anderson wrote:
> I have a 40g drive partitioned, which has a file generated by a supersize tar 
> which I need to remove.
> But when I try the rm i get an error message as follows: 
> 
> cannot remove....<file name>  value too large for defined data type.

Apparently your version of the software was not compiled with large
file support enabled on your platform.  Large files are any file that
is larger than 2GB because that overflows 2^32 bits of a 32-bit
integer.  Special handling is needed in that case.

The GNU programs DO support large files if compiled to do so.  The
operative words being if compiled to do so.  If not then you see what
you are seeing now.

Meanwhile, as to your specific problem, it has been asked before.  So
I will just point you to the FAQ.  It answers it in more detail than I
want to say here.

  http://www.gnu.org/software/fileutils/doc/faq/

Look near the bottom for the topic:

  Tar created a Large File but I can't remove it.

That will detail a workaround to your problem.

Bob