Re: [wishlist] rm -rf to alter directories permissions if necessary

[Pádraig Brady]

On 01/02/15 02:19, Yaroslav Halchenko wrote:
> ATM (Debian jessie/sid with coreutils 8.23-3):
> 
>> mkdir -p d1/d2; touch d1/d2/f1; chmod -w d1/d2; rm -rf d1
> rm: cannot remove ‘d1/d2/f1’: Permission denied
> 
> so to 'rm -rf d1' I need first to chmod +w all directories... although at 
> times
> fs not really an issue, but I am testing git-annex repositories with up to a
> million of files.  Thus running both first recursive chmod and then rm -r
> sounds (and feels) quite wasteful.  So I wondered to suggest/ask if
> implementing alternation of the parent's directory permissions if --force 
> would
> be provided be a sensible extension to rm?
> 
> PS Please CC me -- I am not on the list

This was previously discussed at:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-coreutils/2003-11/msg00058.html

>From my point of view, adding a new flag would essentially
be combining chmod(1) and rm(1) functionality for no functional gain
(no extra atomicity for example).  It might have some performance
benefits, but I don't think that's significant enough here.

thanks,
Pádraig.