Computational complexity of rm & ls

Frank Wales frank at zen.co.uk
Tue Mar 14 22:02:02 AEST 1989


In article <TALE.89Mar13132118 at imagine.pawl.rpi.edu> tale at pawl.rpi.edu writes:
>In article <1541 at zen.UUCP> frank at zen.co.uk (Frank Wales) writes:
>frank> Maybe adding a '-A' (for All, harder to type than '-a') option
>frank> to rm would be justified.  No doubt doing so would break
>frank> jillions of scripts.
>
>I realize that there is a smiley there, but why should adding -A or -a
>break any scripts at all?  Doesn't seem that anyone should have it as
>a flag to rm in a script.

No reason I can think of, but then I've seen scripts, programs and
entire systems break for the most ridiculous reasons imaginable that
nothing really surprises me any more.  You'd be amazed at the assumptions
people make when they write things.  Just being my usual cynical
self, that's all.  ;-)

--
Frank Wales, Systems Manager,        [frank at zen.co.uk<->mcvax!zen.co.uk!frank]
Zengrange Ltd., Greenfield Rd., Leeds, ENGLAND, LS9 8DB. (+44) 532 489048 x217 



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