[patch] rm can have undesired side-effects

[Daniel O'Connor]

On Monday 30 October 2006 10:06, Joerg Pernfuss wrote:
> > I guess that it can be fixed (in case it is not desired) by:
> >  - Ignoring the -P option when the link count is greater then one, or
>
> 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.

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.

Also, -f ONLY means to ignore permissions (or rather, try to ignore them).

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

-- 
Daniel O'Connor software and network engineer
for Genesis Software - http://www.gsoft.com.au
"The nice thing about standards is that there
are so many of them to choose from."
  -- Andrew Tanenbaum
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