What does it mean when ls -al gives output in red?

Question

Centos 7, elasticsearch 5.x.

I am tracing an issue where elasticsearch becomes non responsive to logstash. (both running locally)

I measure the open handles, as we have had problems on the logstash side with this.

Today, when I run the below:

ls -al /proc/`pgrep -f elasticsearch`/fd

I see something I have never seen before: Some output lines in red (see below).

What does the red mean?

Related: https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/94498/117549 – Jeff Schaller Feb 10 '18 at 01:24 — Jeff Schaller, Feb 10 '18 at 01:24

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 09 '18 at 22:13

3

It's a broken symlink. But since those FDs are open on virtual objects it's impossible to resolve them within the context of the filesystem regardless.

answered Feb 09 '18 at 22:13

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

45,725

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 09 '18 at 22:36

2

From this link

Red: Archive file
Red with black background: Broken link

In your case, those are broken links.

answered Feb 09 '18 at 22:36

What does it mean when ls -al gives output in red?

2 Answers2