I want to make an alias for rm -rf /. I know how to make an alias; the problem is that I don't know how to use a succession of commands to make an alias with all of them. I want something like rm -rf / = echo 'something', but only when "/" is used.
How can I achieve this?
This would be much better done by applying the appropriate permissions to prevent people from deleting stuff.
This aliasing ‘security’ approach would be easily overridden by disabling the alias, symlinking to rm and running it that way, copying the rm binary, or possibly even running it directly.
You should secure your desktop by pressing Ctrl+Alt+L to lock it when leaving it unattended.
rm -rf / (which seems unlikely), and then only if the shell that's running the script expands aliases (which is not default behavior).
Commented
Nov 23, 2016 at 17:25
A simple bash function would do (but this can obviously be overwritten by an user):
rm () { [[ $1 =~ -(rf|fr) && $2 = / ]] && echo "whatever" || command rm "$@" ;}
Note that, even if some user do rm -rf /, the operation would not go on as one needs to input --no-preserve-root option with rm to remove the root directory recursively. (But nothing is preventing one from doing rm -rf /* or cd /; rm -rf * by the way)
But you should look at implementing a good security policy instead of monkey-patching sensitive stuffs.
The real problem here is your system's security. The "ppl" that you work with shouldn't be able to rm -rf / since that requires root access - implementing a better security model would avoid incompetent people from breaking the system, plus your rm command should (if it's a recent version) implement --no-preserve-root.
rm -rf /. They shouldn't be able to delete the entire filesystem if they don't have root access, but, if it doesn't bail immediately (because --no-preserve-root wasn't specified), rm -rf / will traverse the directory tree recursively until it reaches the OP's home directory and other files that he is able to delete.
Commented
Nov 23, 2016 at 17:58
rm -rf / and gaining root should require a password. Problem solved. If either root can be gained without password or root is not required, your security is insufficient.
llforls -l, bothllandls -lwould have the same effect.rm -rf, you want to disable or superseed the original one. And that's not what an alias does, it adds another name to a command. heemayl's answer is a more feasible approach.ls=datethen, yes, I have defined a new way to learn (and, possibly, set) the system date and time — but I've also disabled thelscommand from listing files. (And, yes, I know that it's trivial to circumvent, but that's not the point.)# rm -rf /saysrm: it is dangerous to operate recursively on ‘/’ - rm: use --no-preserve-root to override this failsafe.