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From: allbery@ncoast.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng,comp.unix.xenix,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Request for human interface design anecdotes (and a cure?)
Message-ID: <6304@ncoast.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Nov-87 22:11:14 EST
Article-I.D.: ncoast.6304
Posted: Mon Nov 30 22:11:14 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Dec-87 01:20:36 EST
References: <3103@psuvax1.psu.edu> <1987Nov21.014754.19660@sq.uucp> <392@xyzzy.UUCP>
Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon Allbery)
Followup-To: comp.cog-eng
Organization: Cleveland Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, Oh
Lines: 30
Xref: utgpu comp.cog-eng:330 comp.unix.xenix:1070 comp.unix.wizards:5320

As quoted from <392@xyzzy.UUCP> by goudreau@xyzzy.UUCP (Bob Goudreau):
+---------------
| In article <1987Nov21.014754.19660@sq.uucp> msb@sq.UUCP (Mark Brader) writes:
| >If I type "rm *", it is because I want to remove all the files.  No, not
| >all *my* files.  All *the* files that I still have write permission on,
| 
| I'm sorry if that's what you want, because that's not what your system
| is going to do.  I quote from the rm(1) entry in the 7th Edition
| Programmer's Manual:
| 
| 	"Removal of a file requires write permission in its directory,
| 	 but neither read nor write permission on the file itself."
+---------------

True enough -- at the level of unlink().  But if you'll unalias (or un-
function, if you're a System V type) rm for a moment and try to "rm" a file
which is write-protected without using the "-f" flag, you'll see:

bsd% rm foo
foo 444 mode _

$ rm foo	#system V
foo: 444 mode ? _

The biggest problem with this is that it's rather difficult to edit a C
program that's been "rm"-proofed in this manner....
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery		      necntc!ncoast!allbery@harvard.harvard.edu
 {hoptoad,harvard!necntc,cbosgd,sun!mandrill!hal,uunet!hnsurg3}!ncoast!allbery
			Moderator of comp.sources.misc