RFC: alias tar="tar --backup" ?

[Scott Kitterman]

On Thursday 17 May 2007 18:18, Micah Cowan wrote:
> A user, timothy, describing his difficulties at:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/113154
>
> describes his frustration as a new user, in discovering the hard way
> that tar's default is to overwrite existing files, causing him to lose
> important data.
>
> While I'm opposed to fixing the problem in tar itself, as traditional
> usage frequently relies upon this behavior, I don't see why we couldn't
> make the experience of using tar interactively a little safer, by
> providing a default alias for tar in /etc/skel/.bashrc that backs-up
> existing files.
>
> Comments?

The right status for the bug is rejected.  System is working as designed.  

What you might do though is point the bug author (and maybe work with him 
jointly since you've expressed an interest) in developing a spec to describe 
system changes to reduce the risk of accidental data loss by new users.

That's, I think, the right way to deal with this type of design issue.  Also 
it gives them a chance to be involved in the discussion and the community and 
feel valued.  It still might add up to nothing different than RTFM, but 
they'll feel different about it and who knows what the result will be.

Scott K