Re: rm: remove `/tmp/a'? yahoo

[Dan Jacobson]

>>>>> "A" == Alfred M Szmidt <address@hidden> writes:

A> Dan Jacobson <address@hidden> writes:
>> $ alias rm='rm -i'
>> $ rm /tmp/a
>> rm: remove `/tmp/a'? yahoo
>> Blam.  The user somehow typed the wrong string (yahoo)to the wrong window,
>> and blammo, his file is history.

A> How exactly is this a bug? The response started with `y'.  Please be
A> more specific on how this is a bug.

no, legally it is not a bug.  However, other than the user typing "y"
and "yes", can't we err on the side of caution?  I mean, how about
line noise? remember line noise? maybe on some newfangled
communication device there will be line noise causing yzsf{{{{fff{{
etc. and once the file is gone, at least for un non wizards, it's gone
forever.

I mean back at Bell Labs at the time, [yY].* seemed like a easy way to
cover all cases, but as we all had accidents, say pasting the wrong
thing into the wrong buffer, you never know.  Plus "oops. I thought it
was asing which fileS to remove so I typed the yahoo file and caused
it to not remove the yahoo file but instead the first file it was
prompting for" --- a junior user might say.

On "Hogan's Heros" TV show, he says "ya vount, commandant" to remove files, but
that starts with a j I think.

>> Also on the man page give some leads about where to find more info on this:
>> 
>> Note that if you use rm to remove a file,  it  is  usually
>> possible  to  recover  the  contents of that file.  If you
>> want more assurance that the contents are truly unrecover-
>> able, consider using shred.
>> 
>> as a panicked user might be reading the rm page to figure out any way
>> to restore a file, looking for any leads.  Perhaps he has deleted his
>> modem setup file and finds that he can't just connect to the net to
>> search...

A> This is very file-system specific, and usually needs root access to be
A> accomplished.

Well, then all then mention all that too there.  At least give them a
pointer.

A> This is probably why it is not documented to any great detail.

I mean even pesticides and herbicides must have the poison center's
emergency phone number and basic instructions on what to do if
accidentally swallowed.

Anyway, rm -i, mv -i, cp -i, ln -i ... all need my brilliant "improvement".
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