Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ulysses!dgk
From: dgk@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com (David Korn[drew])
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Making rm undoable
Message-ID: <11388@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>
Date: 29 Mar 89 03:44:51 GMT
References: <6805@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <7360@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <10113@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 15


I implemented a version of unlink(name) that did a rename() to a file with
the same name in a sub-directory called .trashcan, if this directory
exists.  I modified rm to use this unlink, and I modified rmdir to
consider a directory empty if the only thing it it was a .trashcan
directory.

This scheme has the advantage of having the link() always on the
same file system.  Also, only files that have a .trashcan subdirectory
are saved.  Thus, you can have a single rm command that works on
directories that you want files saved, and to remove trash from
the .trashcan directory.

Of course, I added a line to cron to clean out .trashcan directories
every day.