Why don't Unix or Linux developers add safety nets, such as confirmation prompt to the ⁠dd⁠ command by default? That would save lots of headaches 😅

@nixCraft Putting a trigger lock on my foot-gun is disrespectful to my freedom.

@nixCraft
you're tired and type
rm -rf /temp

but accidentality hit Enter after /

They changed rm

The --preserve-root flag is a safeguard built into modern versions of the rm command to prevent the deletion of the root directory (/). By default, this option is enabled.
Double-check and explicitly set it for added safety.

When --preserve-root is enabled, rm -rf / is blocked

rm: it is dangerous to operate recursively on ‘/’
rm: use — no-preserve-root to override this failsafe

@raymaccarthy @nixCraft I remember when someone had used: rm -f -r ..

@nixCraft They do! If they need guardrails then a wrapper script is used.

@nixCraft Linux commands are designed to be simple and do one thing only in the simplest possible way. Adding safety nets would just make things horrible to script. Always check man dd, before running sudo dd.

@nixCraft Unix is built on the "you asked for it - you got it" principle. It's not Windows.