Not to directly answer your question but, I'm using Yosemite 10.10.5 and it's easy enough to check: plo-pro:~ root# pwd /var/root plo-pro:~ root# str1=$(

Not to directly answer your question but, I'm using Yosemite 10.10.5 and it's easy enough to check: plo-pro:~ root# pwd /var/root plo-pro:~ root# str1=$(python -c "print '1' * 255") plo-pro:~ root# str2=$(python -c "print '2' * 255") plo-pro:~ root# str3=$(python -c "print '3' * 255") plo-pro:~ root# str4=$(python -c "print '4' * 253") plo-pro:~ root# mkdir -p $str1/$str2/$str3/$str4 plo-pro:~ root# ln -s ftw $str1/$str2/$str3/$str4/L plo-pro:~ root# (cd $str1/$str2/$str3/$str4; unlink L) unlink: L: No space left on device (all the other obvious delete commands also fail)