GNU bug report logs - #25817
rm: add option to avoid early exit on "."

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: L A Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Why were Gnu coding standards violated in favor of posix for 'rm
 -fr .'?: request for reversion of behavior
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:41:36 -0800

In reading Gnu's Coding Standards (
https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/standards.html#Non_002dGNU-Standards),
Under non-Gnu-Standards -- it is specifically talking about POSIX
compatibility when it says:

   In particular, don’t reject a new feature, or remove an old one,
   merely because a standard says it is “forbidden” or “deprecated”.

So... why should 'rm' not be able to start it's deletion
from the inside of a directory? (@ "." )?

FWIW, because of the above change, rm is no longer consistent in its
counting.  With "one-file-system", it means "1fs/starting path",
not 1fs /rm command, whereas with "-I", it creates a global
limit of '3' deletions before asking -- not 3 deletions/starting path.

From the above, changing 'rm' to disallow '.' in a path shouldn't have
been done.

Can this be fixed?  :-)

Thanks!
-linda

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