sma_delete_file — Permission-aware file deletion

Theme: Configure
Who Is It For? System Administrator

What is it?

sma_delete_file switches to a specified user/group identity before deleting a file, enabling deletion of files owned by a different user without requiring root to run rm directly.

Use sma_delete_file from an OpCon job when the file to delete is owned by a user other than the job's run-as user, and when standard file deletion tools do not have the required permissions.

Syntax

sma_delete_file <gid>/<uid> <file_to_delete>

Argument	Description
<gid>/<uid>	The group ID and user ID to switch to before attempting deletion, separated by /. Accepts either numeric IDs (for example, 0/500) or names (for example, dba/oracle).
<file_to_delete>	The full path of the file to delete.

Behavior

1. sma_delete_file looks up the specified user and group identities.
2. The process switches to the specified user/group.
3. The file's permissions are set to full access (read/write/execute for all) to ensure deletion can proceed regardless of the original permissions.
4. The file is deleted.

Note

If the user lookup fails but the group is valid, sma_delete_file logs a warning and continues with the deletion attempt using the available identity. If neither the user nor the group is found, the deletion attempt still proceeds.

Example

The following command deletes a file owned by user oracle (uid 500, gid 501):

sma_delete_file 501/500 /data/incoming/processed_file.dat

Exit codes

Code	Condition
0	Success — the file was deleted
-1	The file does not exist, or the unlink call failed
10	Invalid argument count, user/group change failed, or other fatal error