Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:20:33 -0800 (PST) From: Tim Clewlow <tim1timau@yahoo.com> To: Bakul Shah <bakul@bitblocks.com>, Doug Barton <dougb@FreeBSD.org> Cc: delphij@FreeBSD.org, perryh@pluto.rain.com, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: [patch] rm can have undesired side-effects Message-ID: <20061030202034.99456.qmail@web50311.mail.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <20061030191611.06DFF5B82@mail.bitblocks.com>
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--- Bakul Shah <bakul@bitblocks.com> wrote: > Sorry if I tuned in late:-) > > I vote for taking *out* -P. It is an ill-designed > feature. > Or if you keep it, also add it to mv, cp -f & ln -f > since > these commands can also unlink a file and once > unlinked in > this matter you can't scrub it. And also fix up the > behavior > for -P when multiple links. And since mv can use > rename(2), > you will have to also dirty up the kernel interface > somehow. > Not to mention even editing such a sensitive file > can leave > stuff all over the disk that a bad guy can get at. > If you > are truely paranoid (as opposed to paranoid only > when on > meds) you know how bad that is! > > If you are that concious about scrubbing why not add > scrubbing as a mount option (suggested option: -o > paranoid) > then at least it will be handled consistently. > > What's the world come to when even the paranoid are > such > amateurs. > > -- bakul > Based on all the potential situations where a -P option may possibly be implemented, is it worthwhile considering creating a command that just scrubs a file, and does nothing else. This would seem to fit the Unix paradigm of single command to do a single thing, and may be preferable to attempting to embed this function in every command that may "possibly" remove a file. Just my 2c Tim ____________________________________________________________________________________ Low, Low, Low Rates! Check out Yahoo! Messenger's cheap PC-to-Phone call rates (http://voice.yahoo.com)
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