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GNU/Linux is known for its stability and reliability, but there are times when a GNU/Linux system may not work at all due to not having enough space on its root partition without any notification. So how will one know that this is the error, unless one has troubleshooting experiences. Don’t worry there is a simple solution. The following command will echo the amount of disk space used on root partition

echo df / | grep / | awk ‘{ print $5}’

Description: df / —> disk free of root partition,   grep / —>select line with root partition,  awk ‘{ print $5}’ —> gets the 5th parameter.

Now you can create a script, which can be added to crontab and email you whenever the disk free space is less than critical amount say 10%. Here is a sample script,

#!/bin/bash
CURRENT=$(df / | grep / | awk ‘{ print $5}’ | sed ’s/%//g’)
THRESHOLD=90

if [ "$CURRENT" -gt "$THRESHOLD" ] ; then
mail -s “Disk Space Alert” mail@domainname.com << EOF
Your root partition remaining free space is critically low. Used: $CURRENT%
EOF
fi (more…)