'alias' is a non-portable bash-ism. 

Of course, this matters less now Oracle as declared Solaris dead.

cheers
stuart

--
I have a new phone number: 04 463 5692

________________________________________
From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Alex Berry <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, 29 October 2014 1:11 p.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Subject: Re: Why learn Unix?

And that is why alias rm='rm -I' was invented.

Quoting Roy Tennant <[log in to unmask]>:

> I agree. I've done serious damage to my own server this way. Anyone
> who knows me knows that I'm completely capable of this. Unlike
> others, who are both more intelligent and more cautious. Down the
> path of the wild carded, recursive delete command lies DANGER. Having
> a little bit of knowledge is more dangerous, in most cases, than none
> at all. In Unix and in whitewater rafting.
> Roy
>
>
>> On Oct 28, 2014, at 6:46 PM, Cary Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Well you can do a lot of damage quickly using very short commands. Deleting
>> the master boot record can be quite effective, but I will demure from
>> giving specific examples.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 28, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Stuart Yeates <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>> -- Because you can delete everything on the system with a very short
>>>> command.
>>>
>>> This is actually a misconception.
>>>
>>> The very short command doesn't delete everything on the system. The
>>> integrity of files which are currently open (including things like the
>>> kernel image, executable files for currently-running programs, etc) is
>>> protected until they are closed (or the next reboot, whichever is first).
>>> These files vanish from the directory structure on the filesystem but can
>>> still be accessed by interacting with the running processes which have them
>>> open (or /proc/ for the very desperate).
>>>
>>> This is the POSIX alternative to the windows "That file is currently in
>>> use" scenario and explains why, when a runaway log file fills up a disk,
>>> you have to both delete the log file and restart the service to get the
>>> disk back.
>>>
>>> cheers
>>> stuart
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Cary Gordon
>> The Cherry Hill Company
>> http://chillco.com
>