[tahoe-dev] [tahoe-lafs] #776: users are confused by "tahoe rm"

[David-Sarah Hopwood]

James A. Donald wrote:
> tahoe-lafs wrote:
> > I do think this is basically a documentation bug rather than a
> > problem with {{{tahoe rm}}}'s behaviour, though. (A "destroy"
> > operation as described half-way down
> > http://allmydata.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2009-September/002861.html and in
> > http://allmydata.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2009-October/002957.html ,
> > in contrast, would act on files, not directory entries.)
> >
> > How about having {{{rm}}} output a message such as
> > "''n'' directory entries removed (rm does not delete
> > files)."?
> 
> This is not going to add to user comprehension.

The intent is:
 - to act as a reminder to someone who might already know that rm
   only unlinks directory entries, but who had forgotten;
 - to prompt anyone who doesn't know this but is curious about the
   message, to ask someone who does.

The semantics of 'tahoe rm' can't actually be changed unless we
add a 'destroy' operation. That would require incompatible changes
to the crypto protocol, so it can't be done now. And making rm output
a treatise on link-based filesystem semantics is obviously not practical.
If you have a suggestion for improving the wording while still keeping it
concise and informative, though, that would be helpful.

-- 
David-Sarah Hopwood  ⚥  http://davidsarah.livejournal.com

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