Df says 96% full, du disagrees. What is going on

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You

df says 96% full, du disagrees. What is going on?

ChatGPT

Almost always a deleted file still held open by a process, so the space is gone but no path points at it. lsof +L1 lists them; restarting the holder releases the space instantly.

Tool steps: 3 (reasoning summary, call to python, execution output)
reasoning summary
Checked the query plan, then compared index options.
call to python
rows = run_sql("EXPLAIN (ANALYZE) SELECT ...")
print(rows[:3])
execution output
Seq Scan on events  (cost=0.00..812431.00 rows=41203122 width=16)
  Rows Removed by Filter: 38996878
Planning Time: 0.214 ms
Execution Time: 11842.663 ms
You

My service restarts in a loop and floods the journal.

ChatGPT

Add a backoff. RestartSec=5 plus StartLimitIntervalSec=120 and StartLimitBurst=5 turns a hot loop into five attempts and then a stop, which is what you want: a service that cannot start should stay down loudly rather than churn quietly.