Subject: Bug: rm -rf /*/*
From: Robert Swinford <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2021 13:58:32 -0600
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

TWIMC:

This seems like a bug: https://twitter.com/nixcraft/status/1465599844299411458

I was able to replicate the behavior in a container with coreutils version 8.30.

Interestingly, however, rm -rf // only does the following:

"root@test:~# rm -rf //
rm: it is dangerous to operate recursively on '//' (same as '/')
rm: use --no-preserve-root to override this failsafe"

I believe illumos has already solved this problem in a POSIX compliant fashion, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6XQUciI-Sc&t=4903s

Appreciate your attention to this bug!

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ROBERT SWINFORD
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