GNU bug report logs - #75532
[PATCH 0/1] Proposed new feature for the shred command

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

From: TheJostler <josj <at> tegosec.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Cc: Josjuar Lister <josj <at> TegoSec.com>
Subject: [PATCH 0/1] Proposed new feature for the shred command
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2025 18:50:23 +0000 (UTC)

From: Josjuar Lister <josj <at> TegoSec.com>

Hello Coreutils team,

My name is Josjuar Lister, I am a 28 year old free-lance software developer from the United Kingdom.
My main work though is System Administration and Security, and of course I'm an avid Linux user.

Shred is a tool I often used beause I like many others, value my privacy and security.

I've often needed to securely delete many files in a directory and its subdirectories, but shred does not have a feature to do this.
Oftentimes, I have written scripts to recursively shred files in a directory, but I think it would be useful to have this feature built into the shred command itself.
I decided to add this feature to the shred command and I have tested it to ensure it works as expected.

I would appreciate it if you could review this patch and consider including it in the next release of coreutils.

Kind regards,
Josjuar Lister

Josjuar Lister (1):
  Added new recursive feature to the shred command

 src/shred.c | 111 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 97 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

-- 
2.39.5

Message #8 received at 75532 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: TheJostler <josj <at> tegosec.com>
Cc: 75532 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#75532: [PATCH 0/1] Proposed new feature for the shred command
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2025 23:22:17 -0800

Wouldn't it be better to use 'find' + 'shred' to do that? That should 
work without any changes needed to either 'find' or 'shred'.

Also, please read this:

https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#shred-invocation

to see why neither find+shred nor your proposed patch is all that 
private and secure nowadays. The situation now is even dicier than it 
was three decades ago when Gutmann's paper was published.

Message #13 received at 75532 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: TheJostler <josj <at> tegosec.com>, 75532 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#75532: [PATCH 0/1] Proposed new feature for the shred command
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:53:23 +0000

tag 75532 notabug
close 75532
stop

details below...

On 12/01/2025 18:50, TheJostler wrote:
> From: Josjuar Lister <josj <at> TegoSec.com>
> 
> Hello Coreutils team,
> 
> My name is Josjuar Lister, I am a 28 year old free-lance software developer from the United Kingdom.
> My main work though is System Administration and Security, and of course I'm an avid Linux user.
> 
> Shred is a tool I often used beause I like many others, value my privacy and security.
> 
> I've often needed to securely delete many files in a directory and its subdirectories, but shred does not have a feature to do this.
> Oftentimes, I have written scripts to recursively shred files in a directory, but I think it would be useful to have this feature built into the shred command itself.
> I decided to add this feature to the shred command and I have tested it to ensure it works as expected.
> 
> I would appreciate it if you could review this patch and consider including it in the next release of coreutils.

This was previously discussed at:
https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/rejected_requests.html#shred

The considerations haven't changed in the meantime,
so I'm not on for applying this.

thank you,
Pádraig.

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