Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari!murtoa.cs.mu.oz.au!ditmela!yarra!cm
From: cm@yarra.oz.au (Charles Meo)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Worm/Passwords
Summary: re: rm *
Message-ID: <466@yarra.oz.au>
Date: 16 Nov 88 04:25:57 GMT
References: <22401@cornell.UUCP> <4627@rayssd.ray.com> <8563@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> <125@embossed.UUCP> <672@quintus.UUCP>
Reply-To: cm@yarra.oz.au (Charles Meo)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Australia, Melbourne
Lines: 36

In article <672@quintus.UUCP> ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
> In article <125@embossed.UUCP> ron@embossed.UUCP (Ron Elliott) writes:
>>	4) Many of you talk about the thousands of hours lost due to 
>>	   the Morris Worm.  How about something like "rm *" ?  How many
>>	   hours have been lost over the last 15 years over that 
>>	   bug-feature.?  Yes, I know the workarounds, and have installed
>>	   them.  How come though Un*x venders still havn't issued fixed
>>	   rm's or even discuss the matter in their documentation?  Or
>>	   even supplied the workarounds in their distribution?
>
> You usually know when rm * happens, and if your site has a competent
> administrator you can recover your state as of the previous day.  An
> rm mistake doesn't erode the trust in a world-wide community!
>
> Now, how _do_ you fix "rm *"?  Suppose you restrict rm to delete exactly
> one file.  Watch:

<stuff deleted>

Why not put something in rm to check for the '*' token by itself and say
something like:

Are you sure y/n?

You may recognise this prompt; it is from the DYING UPPER CASE O/S:

MSDOS!!!

I am sure unix wizards will find this unnecessary and tedious: just like
restoring yesterday's backup (which we ALL did didn't we?) and bringing
in the work lost.

Perhaps this is a worthwhile departure from the traditional unix mode of 
operation, 'Silent but Deadly'.

Chuck.