rm -rf : What does it really do

[Roger Oberholtzer]

Check out the 'chattr' command. Especially the '-s' option.

What I would like to get sorted out is where and how the -u option can
really be used. Seems a bit unclear. Need to check the current ext2/3 code
to see if these are totally gone these days. Too bad if it is.

On Sat, 3 May 2003 11:55:29 -0400
Kurt Wall <kwall at kurtwerks.com> wrote:

> An unnamed Administration source, Joel Hammer, wrote:
> % Just an idle thought while waiting for rm -rf* to remove a 40 gig
> directory. % 
> % This is taking quite a while. Does  rm just unlink files, leaving the
> % data recoverable, or does it make the date unrecoverable?
> 
> The data is potentially recoverable, in the sense that one can 
> theoretically "undelete" deleted files until the inode information
> is overwritten. In practice, however, the file system design does
> not lend itself to undeletion, for much the same reason that the
> file system design does not result in the need for defragmentation.
> File deletion is performed by removing the relevant inode information.
> 
> If you want more secure deletion, use "shred".
> 
> Kurt
> -- 
> We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.
> 		-- Walt Kelly, "Pogo"
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