Informix Error -587: Cannot delete file filename.

Reasons / Common Causes

-587 is documented as obsolete — database servers from Version 4.0 onward don't produce it. It's documented here for older platforms/archival reference: on the versions where it applied, it fired when the server couldn't delete a specific OS-level file as part of some operation, with the accompanying ISAM error code carrying the actual reason.

1. An OS-level permission or ownership problem preventing the file's deletion, on the platforms/versions where this error applied.
2. The file already removed or missing by the time the server attempted the delete, on those older platforms.
3. A filesystem-level issue (read-only mount, disk error) preventing the delete on the affected version.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Check the accompanying ISAM error code, per the official guidance, for the specific underlying reason, on platforms/versions where this error still applies.
2. On a current-version server, this specific error message no longer occurs, per the official guidance — a file-deletion failure on a supported version would surface through a different, more specific ISAM-level or OS-level error instead.

Examples

Checking the accompanying ISAM error

-- On an affected older version, review the ISAM error code reported
-- alongside -587 for the specific underlying OS-level cause.

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check the accompanying ISAM error code first, per the official guidance, on the affected older platforms/versions.

Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -587 in this set yet.

Obsolete since Version 4.0 — documented here for older platforms/archival reference; check the accompanying ISAM error code on affected versions.