GNU bug report logs - #12339
Bug: rm -fr . doesn't dir depth first deletion yet it is documented to do so.

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From: Linda Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
Cc: Bob Proulx <bob <at> proulx.com>, 12339 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#12339: Bug: rm -fr . doesn't dir depth first deletion yet it is	documented to do so.
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:40:12 -0700

Eric Blake wrote:
>>> The rm utility is forbidden to remove the names dot and dot-dot in order to avoid the consequences of inadvertently doing something like:
>>> rm −r .*
---
Which is why, IMO, I thought rm -r .* should ask if they really want to remove
all files under "." as the first question, as it would show up first in such
a situation.

As stated before, I am more interested in the "-f"=force it anyway option,
that says to let it fail, and continue, ignoring failure.

I think that may be where the problem has been introduced.

I never used rm - .

Certainly rm ** is easier to mistype than rm -r .* so by that logic, that
should be disallowed as well?

I submit it is the behavior of "-f" that has changed -- and that it
used to mean "force" -- continue in spite of errors, and it is
that behavior that has changed, as I would would always have expected
rm -r . to at least return some error I didn't care about -- What I
wanted was the depth-first removal, and -f to force it to continue despite
errors.

How long has -f NOT meant "--force" -- as now it only overlooks write
protection errors which sounds very weak.

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