this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2026
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Linux
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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).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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This deletes everything in root; a great way to break your OS and lose all data too.
OP meant to run
Note the period, which represents the current directory. So this deletes everything in the current directory instead of the entire filesystem
Yes, thats right...
Why not just:
What is the necessity of that sudo,
-fand/?Disclaimer: I have carelessly committed this nonsense too. Thankfully, the important data was backed up. I used a live USB to access the nuked OS partition and used chroot to repopulate the deleted system files. Didn't even have to reinstall the OS.
Always have a disaster plan. If you have a btrfs partition, even periodic btrfs snapshots are a cheap lifesaver. Everything else can be saved like a breeze with some terminal magic.