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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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Can I remove a git repo without resorting to rm -rf ? (programming.dev)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Git repos have lots of write protected files in the .git directory, sometimes hundreds, and the default rm my_project_managed_by_git will prompt before deleting each write protected file. So, to actually delete my project I have to do rm -rf my_project_managed_by_git.

Using rm -rf scares me. Is there a reasonable way to delete git repos without it?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Maybe use a graphical file manager?

Or move the folder to /tmp or so.

[–] friend_of_satan 3 points 6 months ago

Or a tui file manager like ncdu

[+] [email protected] -10 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That's a good suggestion for some, but I'm quite comfortable with the command line.

It's not that I'm irrationally scared of rm -rf. I know what that command will do. If I slow down an pay attention it's not as though I'm worried "I hope this doesn't break my system".

What I really mean is I see myself becoming quite comfortable typing rm -rf and running it with little thought, I use it often to delete git repos, and my frequent use and level of comfort with this command doesn't match the level of danger it brings.

Just moving them to /tmp is a nice suggestion that can work on anywhere without special programs or scripts.

[–] SpaceNoodle 32 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You don't sound like you're comfortable with the command line.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just checked my command history and I've run 60,000 commands on this computer without problem (and I have other computers). I guess people have different ideas of what "comfortable" means, but I think I consider myself comfortable with the command line.

I have shot myself in the foot with rm -rf in the past though, and screwed up my computer so bad the easiest solution was to reinstall the OS from scratch. My important files are backed up, including most of my dotfiles, but being a bit too quick to type and run a rm -rf command has caused me needless hours of work in the past.

I realized the main reason I have to use rm -rf is to remove git repos and so I thought I'd ask if anyone has a tip to avoid it. And I've found some good suggestions among the least upvoted comments.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I'm the same as you! I recommend "trash-cli", then you can undo if you mess something up. You can even set an alias to echo "wrong command" if you use 'RM'.

[–] somethingsomethingidk 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If you're making backups of things you care about and not running sudo rm -rf the command isn't really dangerous.

But +1 for having it in /tmp I have a bash function I call tempd that is basically cd $(mktemp -d) I use it so much for stuff I dont really care to keep.

[–] redbr64 2 points 6 months ago

Never heard of mktemp before, that's need. Come to think of it I never thought about how /tmp is really used by the system in the first place, time to do do studying I guess