[ale] [Robert.L.Harris at rdlg.net: Reiser vs EXT3]

[Joseph A Knapka]

ChangingLINKS.com wrote:
> And you own guns with no safety mechanisms as well? 
> What about a car that starts when the shifter is not in "Park?"
> How about the microwave that can operate without the door shut?
> Geez . . .

No. But the *purpose* of the "remove a file" command is to, well,
*remove* a file. Not to move it. Not to hide it. Expecting "rm"
to not remove a file is analogous to loading a gun, ensuring that
the safety is off, shooting yourself in the chest, and expecting
the paramedics to be able to fix you up. You use "rm" when you
really want the file to be gone forever, so that you can use
the disk space for something else.

It's clear to everyone, I expect, that the purpose of the "Recycle
Bin" on Windows is not to actually remove a file, but to move
it somewhere where it won't bother you. You can have that
function, easily, on Linux, and if you want it, use it. The
fact that a particular filesystem (ext3) really removes a file,
unrecoverably, when told to do so, is not a reason not to
use that filesystem; rather, it's a reason to use tools that
protect you from such mistakes, if that's what you need.

Note that in general, even on Windows, the command that
means "Really, I want you too remove this file so I can use
the disk space for something else" (Empty the trash) results
in a permanently and totally deleted file - the file may
be partially recoverable by (user-unfriendly) disk-editing
tools, but you certainly aren't entitled to *expect* that
to be the case.

Cheers,

-- Joe


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