• jaybone@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    58
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    16 hours ago

    Should only be used with extreme caution and if you know what you are doing.

    Ok. What is the actual use case for “rm -rf /“ even if you know what you are doing and using extreme caution? If you want to wipe a disk, there are better ways to do it, and you certainly wouldn’t want that disk mounted on / when you do it, right?

    • Midnight Wolf@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 hours ago

      Set up a remote access system on client/customer machines for tech support. When a customer doesn’t pay, and notices have been sent and not replied to, and they won’t answer your calls: this, on all their machines with past due payments.

      Then when they call you in a panic, give them the same kindness and respect that they have given to you, down to the number of days since contact was stopped. Gotta twist that knife for maximum effectiveness. Then and only then should you consider answering their cries of agony.

      (now I’ve never had a client payment issue, usually it’s quite some time before they need my assistance again so I take payment in full at completion, not tabs/payment plans; but hypothetically…)

    • Sunsofold@lemmings.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      33
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      12 hours ago

      None. Remember that the response is AI generated. It’s probabilistically created from people’s writings. There are strong relations between that command and other ‘dangerous commands.’ Writings about 'dangerous commands ’ oft contain something about how they should ‘only be run by someone who knows what they are doing’ so the response does too.

    • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      10 hours ago

      isn’t the command meant to be used on a certain path? like if you just graduated high school, you can just run “rm -rf ~/documents/homework/” ?

    • qarbone@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      73
      ·
      16 hours ago

      There probably isn’t one and there really doesn’t have to be one. The ability to do it is a side effect of the versatility of the command.

    • WanderingCat@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      15 hours ago

      There isn’t. It’s just the fact that it will. The command can/is used often to remove other directories