[mythtv-users] Lost all recordings because of ".xsession-errors" file

[Ronald Frazier]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 2:04 AM,  <mythtv at raf.org> wrote:
> if you don't care about the contents of .xsession-errors:
>
>  cd
>  rm .xsession-errors
>  touch .xsession-errors
>  chmod 0 .xsession-errors
>
> it's not default behaviour but it will get rid of it. :-)

Nice try, but it comes back the next time you login. Even changing it
to be owned by root doesn't stop it. And if you think you could just
script this to happen every time you login, no such luck. The file
will disappear, but since the X windows process has an open handle, it
will still exist on disk (though invisible) until you logout. I made
that mistake once when it had filled my drive and I needed to fix the
problem without a reboot. I ended up having to learn out how to
restore a deleted file from only the open file handle. If you want to
clear it out without logging out, you need to do an "echo -n >
.xsession-errors", but even that just clears it out temporarily. If
some process is on a runaway writing spree, it will just fill back up.
I never was able to figure out a way to delete it, force close all the
existing file handles, and prevent it from being recreated or written
to.


-- 
Ron Frazier