Re: [patch] rm can have undesired side-effects

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:30:02 +1030
"Daniel O'Connor" <doconnor@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Silently ignoring user specified options is seldom a good way to go.
The user explicitly stated he wants to wipe the file contents.

I disagree that the user really meant to wipe the file if its link
count is >1.

That of course may or may not be true. I still do not like the 'silent'
part.

IMO having rm -P not wipe the file if its link count is >1 is a good
idea. if you are deleting a tree containing a file with links then
this will result in the file getting wiped in the end anyway because
the link count will be 1 after the first link is removed.

It would be easy enough to add a diagnostic message in the -P case
where the link count is >1.

Yes, see my other mails. Bahviour similar to OpenBSD (don't overwrite,
generate warning, unlink) is probably what should be done.

The pitfall may really be too big.

Joerg
--
| /"\ ASCII ribbon | GnuPG Key ID | e86d b753 3deb e749 6c3a |
| \ / campaign against | 0xbbcaad24 | 5706 1f7d 6cfd bbca ad24 |
| X HTML in email | .the next sentence is true. |
| / \ and news | .the previous sentence was a lie. |

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: PGP signature