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#rm -rf /

csmith1991
By csmith1991
in Programming
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Go to solution Solved by alpenwasser,

See here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIIweirHwek

And as said, running 'rm' on a filename will not actually remove the

data from the disk as long as the file is still opened somewhere.

More about UNIX-like filesystems, inodes and all that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode_pointer_structure

http://www.slashroot.in/how-does-file-deletion-work-linux

http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/01/linux-inodes/

http://www.linux.org/threads/intro-to-inodes.4130/


Posted

I've always kinda wondered what rm -rf / would do, assuming you had root file permissions. Would it delete everything in site? Would it delete everything until the instruction set for rm got deleted? Would it simply not work because every single distribution of linux/unix is smart enough to know not to delete itself?

 

What do you think would happen?

 

I guess I could setup a VM and find out for myself, but... I'm not even sure I would know what to make of the aftermath if it stopped half way through.

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Most distros wont allow you to rm /. they now require you use --no-preserve-root

 

There is no limit to how far/how much it will delete. Processes can run even after their binaries have been removed. It is completely unpredictable.

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sudo rm -rf / 

 

deletes EVERYTHING in that partition. go try it on a VM its fun ;)

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  • Solution

See here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIIweirHwek

And as said, running 'rm' on a filename will not actually remove the

data from the disk as long as the file is still opened somewhere.

More about UNIX-like filesystems, inodes and all that here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode_pointer_structure

http://www.slashroot.in/how-does-file-deletion-work-linux

http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/01/linux-inodes/

http://www.linux.org/threads/intro-to-inodes.4130/

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