fault toleratant shell scripts

[Ward Griffiths]

On Monday 15 March 2004 01:36 pm, Bill Vermillion wrote:

> What it did was link directories in a loop - sort of like a
> mobius strip.  As you descend further down you were actually higher
> up,  Maybe you could call it recursive linking.
>
> You did NOT have to type   rm -r /usr/spool/lpd/* to nuke the
> system.
>
> You could change to /usr/spool and perform rm -r lpd and do the
> job, no * neeed, since the -r informed the system you wanted to
> remove lpd and all that was under it.
>
> And you didn't remove everything in the system.  Since could could
> not remove the directory you were in, the only thing it left
> was the /usr/spool/lpd/<whatever> loop as it tried to descend
> furhter and further.  It was just like a hoop snake in that
> respect.  [If you reember the stories of the hoop snake from your
> youth]

/bin/rm (and /bin itself, naturally) would also remain.  Tested that 
once on a store demo I was cleaning up for a fresh OS install for a 
customer delivery -- did an rm -f * from / then mounted and looked at 
the HD from a boot floppy just for grins.  Then I formatted it.
-- 
Ward Griffiths    wdg3rd at comcast.net    http://home.comcast.net/~wdg3rd/

"And I don't like the idea of going _anywhere_ near the gods.  We're
like toys to them, you know."  _And they don't realise how easily the
arms and legs come off_, he added to himself.
                                Terry Pratchet, _The Last Hero_