[Off Topic] Re: Linux security

[Peter Garrett]

On Fri, 5 May 2006 09:34:30 +0200
"Adriano Varoli Piazza" <moranar at gmail.com> wrote:

[ Peter Garrett wrote]
> > Some distros ( Mandrake used to do this) alias rm to 'rm -i' . Personally,
> > I don't like this, but I can see the thinking.
> 
> rm -i doesn't save you from -fr. I know, because one of the first
> things I did when coming to Ubuntu from Mandriva was precisely alias
> cp, mv and rm to their -i equivalents, and rm -rf still
> works-as-advertised. 

Quite so. I still prefer to have commands do as expected on the whole. If
I want cp -i I will ask for it myself... just as using -f should be a
conscious decision.

>I'll go out on a limb, though, and say that if
> you're running as root, don't know in which dir you're working, and
> use rm -rf when graphical desktops with trashcans are there to help
> you, you deserve it.

Mistakes of this kind tend to happen only once ;-) I once... umm, never
mind ;-) 
> 
> rm -rf _is_not_the_default_. rm is the default, and it doesn't delete
> non-empty directories recursively on its own.

That's correct - after all if you type "-f" you are saying "force this",
which is not a habit to be encouraged anyway.

[snip]

> 
> I frankly don't agree with people that insist that _every_ part of the
> unix system should be user-friendly. If you don't want random
> accidental destruction through misuse of spaces (rm -fR * .old), don't
> use the shell for file management. You've got Nautilus. You've got
> Konqueror. There's even mc. The shell comes at a price.

I tend to agree. One of the characterisitics of Linux and Unix is that they
assume you know what you are doing. Personally I prefer that to constant
"Are you *really* *really* sure you want to do this?" messages. Actually,
any program with a "nag-on-close" dialogue sends me straight to the
preferences to disable it, if at all possible...

If I stuff up, I'll take the responsibility for my own mistakes, thanks
very much.

Peter


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