From: Jeremy Bopp <jeremy@...>
Date: 2010-12-01T23:54:55+09:00
Subject: Re: I can't get FileUtils to delete a directory

On 12/1/2010 8:39 AM, Tara Keane wrote:
> I don't get it...
> 
> (newbie - sorry)

rm -rf has a history of being accidentally used to clobber very
important data from a Unix system.  If you're running as the root user
on Unix, you have the ability to wipe out the entire filesystem,
including the operating system's files, rather than just your personal
home directory and any other limited directories to which you have write
access.  Under older systems, you needed to have the password for the
root user in order to operate in its name.  Thus, to really f**k things
up, you need root's password. :-)

The moral of the story is to use rm -rf and any similar facility such as
FileUtils.rm_rf with extreme caution.

-Jeremy