*BSD News Article 45109


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From: gfm@werple.mira.net.au (Graham Menhennitt)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Suggestion for 2.1
Date: 9 Jun 1995 00:07:09 GMT
Organization: werple public-access Internet, Melbourne
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References: <3r6rh4$64v@oz.plymouth.edu>
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Ted Wisniewski (ted@oz.plymouth.edu) wrote:

: I have a suggestion for 2.1,  To help protect new users from themselves
: place the following aliases in "root"'s .cshrc:

: 	alias rm 'rm -i'
: 	alias cp 'cp -i'
: 	alias mv 'mv -i'

: I have helped many people install; and I always give them those aliases
: to prevent frustration (on their part and mine).

No! Don't do it! In the long term you will cause more frustration than you
prevent.

The reason: sooner or later you will go to a machine that doesn't have
these aliases and, out of habit, type something like "rm *" expecting it
to ask you about each file. Bye bye files!

If you want to do something along these lines, do "alias rmi 'rm -i'" and
then get into the habit of typing "rmi files".

Graham