archiel@hercules.UUCP (06/06/84)
I just found out the hard way that if one runs "rm -r" on a directory that
contains a symbolic link, the object that the link points to gets removed
(recursively). Since plain old "rm" run on a symbolic link removes the
link but NOT the object that it points to, I was surprised by this behavior
(no flames, please).
This behavior is, in my opinion, not obvious until after you've experienced it.
I am submitting this so that no one who reads it will be similarly surprised.
Be careful of this one. It can really hurt!
--
Archie Lachner
Logic Design Systems Division
Tektronix, Inc.
uucp: {ucbvax,decvax,pur-ee,cbosg,ihnss}!tektronix!teklds!archiel
CSnet: archiel@tek
ARPAnet: archiel.tek@csnet-relayjonab@sdcrdcf.UUCP (06/06/84)
In article <214@hercules.UUCP> archiel@hercules.UUCP (Archie Lachner) writes: >I just found out the hard way that if one runs "rm -r" on a directory that >contains a symbolic link, the object that the link points to gets removed >(recursively). Since plain old "rm" run on a symbolic link removes the >link but NOT the object that it points to, I was surprised by this behavior >(no flames, please). > >This behavior is, in my opinion, not obvious until after you've experienced it. >I am submitting this so that no one who reads it will be similarly surprised. >Be careful of this one. It can really hurt! In my opinion, this is a bug, not a feature. A symbolic link should be treated as much like a hard link by the system as is possible. Thus the object pointed to by the symbolic link should be recusively removed only if the object is a directory, not if it is a normal file. This is what would happen if the link was a hard link, not a symbolic one. Jon Biggar {allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,sdccsu3}!sdcrdcf!jonab