.prn in root

[Kevin Daines]

can anyone give me a brief description of the .prn file in root

whether it would be wise to delete it, or at least make it smaller

[A. Clay Stephenson · Accepted solution]

This is not a standard UNIX file. My psychic, Miss Cleo, tells me that this may be an artifact of an ftp or file copy from a Windows box. In any event, no one (not even root) should be writing large files in /. The root filesystem's size should be all but fixed after the system is up and running.

I would first mv .prn dummy.prn and see if anything complains and then remove it. If you feel the need copy or back it up before removing it.

[G. Vrijhoeven]

Hi,

I do not know the which process this file uses. You could do:

fuser -u .prn

and go to the man page of the proces if and how the file is used, or if it could be relocated. I would not tolerate a growing file in /.

HTH,

Gideon

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi,

This is most certainly a Windows artifact file as .prn files are files created when one "prints to disk" from an app that would normally print to a PCL (Laserjet-type) printer.

I would think you could safely remove it.

BUT you need to investigate just why it showed up there. Could you possible have / exported to the outside world. That's a BAD thing & could lead to problems with M$ users filling up / & causing the system to hang or even panic.

Rgds,
Jeff

[Michael Schulte zur Sur]

Hi,

is there something readable inside?

greetings,

Michael