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Re: config packages [Was: rm -r * and the default prompt]



[ Please don't Cc: public replies to me. ]

Brian Mays:
> Wouldn't it be nice to provide newbies with the alias rm='rm -i'?

That would mean that newbies would learn that rm always asks whether
to remove the files, and leads to two severe problems:

	1. You almost always answer `y', so it becomes a reflex.
	   The question won't help against reflexes, and often
	   enough you'll mistakenly delete files anyway.
	   (Been there, done that.)
	
	2. You will be _really_ angry when you use rm on a non-Debian
	   system, and assume it will ask. (Seen that, explained
	   that there is no unrm.)

Setting the prompt won't help much against rm mistakes, either.
Implementing unrm is the best solution, but is obviously much
harder. If I remember correctly, however, the ext2 filesystem
does have some hooks for this already.

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