Re: rm -iR

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From	Greg Troxel <gdt@lexort.com>
Newsgroups	muc.lists.netbsd.tech.userlevel
Subject	Re: rm -iR
Date	Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:27:22 -0500
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Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org> writes:

> Greg Troxel <gdt@lexort.com> wrote:
>
>> We should ensure that the code and the man page conform to POSIX
>
>> https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9799919799/utilities/rm.html
>
> I think that language can be interpreted to justify
> either behavior.

I sort of thought that at first, but there is a recursion rule, and if
you read the spec like a computer, I think only the macos/linux behavior
is ok.  But it's really hard for me to be sure I'm reading it right.

>> It's a good question how FreeBSD documents -i and processes it.
>
> FreeBSD behaves (and documents) like NetBSD.

Perhaps -i arose in BSD.  rm's -r option is earlier; I am pretty sure I
remember it from Seventh Edition and probably Sixth.

and to mouse about -r vs -R, posix says:

  -R
      Remove file hierarchies. See the DESCRIPTION.
  -r
      Equivalent to -R.

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rm -iR Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org> - 2026-02-03 14:30 -0500
  Re: rm -iR Greg Troxel <gdt@lexort.com> - 2026-02-03 15:21 -0500
    Re: rm -iR Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org> - 2026-02-03 16:11 -0500
      Re: rm -iR Greg Troxel <gdt@lexort.com> - 2026-02-03 17:27 -0500
        Re: rm -iR Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU> - 2026-02-04 15:46 +0700
  Re: rm -iR Mouse <mouse@Rodents-Montreal.ORG> - 2026-02-03 16:52 -0500
  Re: rm -iR RVP <rvp@SDF.ORG> - 2026-02-04 05:48 +0000
    Re: rm -iR Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org> - 2026-02-06 16:33 -0500
      Re: rm -iR Reinoud Zandijk <reinoud@NetBSD.org> - 2026-04-19 18:15 +0200
        Re: rm -iR Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org> - 2026-04-25 16:24 -0400

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