I accidentally untarred archive intended to be extracted in root directory, which among others included some files for /etc directory.
I went on to rm -rv ~/etc, but I quickly typed rm -rv /etc instead, and hit enter, while using a root account.

  • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
    2·
    3 days ago

    Unix aficionados accept occasional file deletion as normal. For example, consider following excerpt from the comp.unix.questions FAQ:
    6) How do I “undelete” a file?
    Someday, you are going to accidentally type something like:
    % rm * .foo
    and find you just deleted “*” instead of “*.foo”. Consider it a rite of passage.
    Of course, any decent systems administrator should be doing regular backups. Check with your sysadmin to see if a recent backup copy of your file is available

    “A rite of passage”? In no other industry could a manufacturer take such a cavalier attitude toward a faulty product. “But your honor, the exploding gas tank was just a rite of passage.”

    There’s a reason sane programs ask for confirmation for potentially dangerous commands

    • ThanksForAllTheFish@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      1 day ago

      True, in this case trash-cli is the sane command though, it has a much different job than rm. One is remove forever no take backs, the other is more mark for deletion. It’s good to have both options imo. Theres a lot of low level interfaces that are dangerous, if they’re not the correct tool for the job then they don’t have to be used. Trying to make every low level tool safe for all users just leads to a lot of unintended consequences and inefficiencies. Kill or IP address del can be just as bad, but netplan try or similar also exist.