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(Treating / specially): --preserve-root is

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now the default for rm.
(rm invocation): Likewise.  Also, document that you can't
remove `.' or `..'.  Use the POSIX term "root directory"
rather than the more-ambiguous "file system root".
This commit is contained in:
Paul Eggert
2006-09-03 02:56:34 +00:00
parent 0b5f3463b3
commit aff5a4f2ab
2 changed files with 30 additions and 17 deletions
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doc/ChangeLog
+8
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@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
2006-09-02 Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
* coreutils.texi (Treating / specially): --preserve-root is
now the default for rm.
(rm invocation): Likewise. Also, document that you can't
remove `.' or `..'. Use the POSIX term "root directory"
rather than the more-ambiguous "file system root".
2006-08-22 Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
* .cvsignore: Add Makefile.in, coreutils.html, coreutils.pdf,
doc/coreutils.texi
+22 -17
View File
@@ -1137,18 +1137,14 @@ or @option{-P} is specified.
Certain commands can operate destructively on entire hierarchies.
For example, if a user with appropriate privileges mistakenly runs
@samp{rm -rf / tmp/junk} or @samp{cd /bin; rm -rf ../}, that may remove
@samp{rm -rf / tmp/junk}, that may remove
all files on the entire system. Since there are so few
@footnote{If you know of one, please write to @email{bug-coreutils@@gnu.org}.}
legitimate uses for such a command,
@sc{gnu} @command{rm} provides the @option{--preserve-root} option
to make it so @command{rm} declines to operate on any directory
that resolves to @file{/}. The default is still to allow
@samp{rm -rf /} to operate unimpeded.
Another new option, @option{--no-preserve-root}, cancels the
effect of any preceding @option{--preserve-root} option.
Note that the @option{--preserve-root} behavior may become the default
for @command{rm}.
@sc{gnu} @command{rm} normally declines to operate on any directory
that resolves to @file{/}. If you really want to try to remove all
the files on your system, you can use the @option{--no-preserve-root}
option, but the default behavior, specified by the
@option{--preserve-option}, is safer for most purposes.
The commands @command{chgrp}, @command{chmod} and @command{chown}
can also operate destructively on entire hierarchies, so they too
@@ -1156,7 +1152,11 @@ support these options. Although, unlike @command{rm}, they don't
actually unlink files, these commands are arguably more dangerous
when operating recursively on @file{/}, since they often work much
more quickly, and hence damage more files before an alert user can
interrupt them.
interrupt them. Tradition and @acronym{POSIX} require these commands
to operate recursively on @file{/}, so they default to
@option{--no-preserve-root}, but using the @option{--preserve-root}
option makes them safer for most purposes. For convenience you can
specify @option{--preserve-root} in an alias or in a shell function.
@node Special built-in utilities
@section Special built-in utilities
@@ -7717,6 +7717,9 @@ the @option{-f} or @option{--force} option is not given, or the
@command{rm} prompts the user for whether to remove the file.
If the response is not affirmative, the file is skipped.
Any attempt to remove a file whose last file name component is
@file{.} or @file{..} is rejected without any prompting.
@emph{Warning}: If you use @command{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 unrecoverable, consider using @command{shred}.
@@ -7768,15 +7771,17 @@ Specifying @option{--interactive} and no @var{when} is equivalent to
@itemx --preserve-root
@opindex --preserve-root
@cindex root directory, disallow recursive destruction
Fail upon any attempt to remove the file system root, @file{/},
Fail upon any attempt to remove the root directory, @file{/},
when used with the @option{--recursive} option.
Without @option{--recursive}, this option has no effect.
This is the default behavior.
@xref{Treating / specially}.
@itemx --no-preserve-root
@opindex --no-preserve-root
@cindex root directory, allow recursive destruction
Cancel the effect of any preceding @option{--preserve-root} option.
Do not treat @file{/} specially when removing recursively.
This option is not recommended unless you really want to
remove all the files on your computer.
@xref{Treating / specially}.
@item -r
@@ -8798,7 +8803,7 @@ during a recursive traversal, but see @option{--verbose}.
@itemx --preserve-root
@opindex --preserve-root
@cindex root directory, disallow recursive modification
Fail upon any attempt to recursively change the file system root, @file{/}.
Fail upon any attempt to recursively change the root directory, @file{/}.
Without @option{--recursive}, this option has no effect.
@xref{Treating / specially}.
@@ -8920,7 +8925,7 @@ during a recursive traversal, but see @option{--verbose}.
@itemx --preserve-root
@opindex --preserve-root
@cindex root directory, disallow recursive modification
Fail upon any attempt to recursively change the file system root, @file{/}.
Fail upon any attempt to recursively change the root directory, @file{/}.
Without @option{--recursive}, this option has no effect.
@xref{Treating / specially}.
@@ -9041,7 +9046,7 @@ changed.
@itemx --preserve-root
@opindex --preserve-root
@cindex root directory, disallow recursive modification
Fail upon any attempt to recursively change the file system root, @file{/}.
Fail upon any attempt to recursively change the root directory, @file{/}.
Without @option{--recursive}, this option has no effect.
@xref{Treating / specially}.