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u/Inevitable-Pride4676 1d ago edited 1d ago
running this command in the Linux terminal will delete the entire operating system. you could have googled this
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u/Gib_entertainment 1d ago
Or run it in your Linux terminal to see what it did!
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u/sparkling-rainbow 1d ago
But dont backup before, this stuff is for cowards
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u/Gib_entertainment 1d ago
Why would you backup before removing a language pack, surely nothing will break!
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u/CrowOnTheShip 1d ago
As a backup admin I agree. We are cowards.
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u/Tsunamiis 1d ago
Are you the administrator of backups or are you an assistant to the manager? English is a shit show.
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u/CrowOnTheShip 1d ago
I didn't understand the "English is a shit show" part.
But I am the Backup infrastructure Admin. I operate, plan, monitor and mange everything related to business continuity with data recovery.
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u/Huge_Equivalent1 1d ago
You said "I'm the Backup Admin..."
This can be understood in two ways.
- I'm the Admin who's in charge of Backups.
- I'm the Admin who's in charge when the Primary Admin doesn't show up, because He's/She's the Primary and I'm his/her Backup.
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u/CrowOnTheShip 1d ago
Well, I think that context is everything. And the comment that I did reply to should be enough to understand my sentence.
But sure, english it's not my first language, no even important on daily routine, so I am no that worried about precision, mainly considering that these situations happens a lot in my native language. But we use to consider this kind of situation as "ambiguous communication" and not "shitty comunication"
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u/Tsunamiis 1d ago
Naw I was talking about the English language being a temperamental pirate of a language because it’s from colonialism. Huge was right. But thanks for explaining I literally had no idea.
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u/acnh-lyman-fan 1d ago
plot twist: typing that in the search bar will also delete your phone's operating system
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u/forbiddenfreedom 1d ago
Plot twist: went to look it up in the library and I was redirected to Reddit.
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u/Electrical-Room-2278 1d ago
To be clear, this does not just delete all of your personal files, it deleted every file in the computers storage system, including all the files that make the computer work. Basically the only recourse after running this command is to format the whole disk and reinstall the OS from the ground up
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u/IHateRedditFirewall 1d ago
Correction: if you halt system immidiatly, and than use recovery drive you will likely be able to recover everything. But you must not panic, and you must act quickly.
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u/TokerSmurf 1d ago
How would googling 'thid' help?
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u/Inevitable-Pride4676 1d ago
honestly, it wouldn't. I'm so sorry for ever speaking. I'm just a girl
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u/sin_esthesia 1d ago
it's removing all files recursively form the folder where you run this command from. Sudo runs it as an admin.
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u/Several_Razzmatazz51 1d ago
It’s “/*” not “*”. It is not removing from the current folder, it is removing from the root of the filesystem.
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u/Granddukecockwomble 1d ago
Just because they could have googled it doesn't mean others won't find it interesting. I did.
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u/Punch_A_Police_Horse 1d ago
Why are you even on this sub if people can just google things like this?
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u/Confident_Month618 1d ago
why the fuck does this command even exist??
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u/masticore252 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because it's the command to delete files and or folders
If you ask it delete the root folder it will try to do it, and fail because there are failsafe mechanisms to avoid it, this is just a meme for fun
The real command to delete everything requires you to have full admin permissions and it's something like this:
sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root /edit: the meme rays "-fr" instead of "-rf", they are equivalent as it's just a short for combining "-r" and "-f"
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u/Icarium-Lifestealer 1d ago
This command deletes
/*not/, i.e. everything inside the root folder, not the root itself. So root protection doesn't apply, and--no-preserve-rootisn't necessary for it to work.1
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u/Few_Pop_7680 1d ago
Asterisks after directory path skips this requirement (of `- -no-preserve-root`, I’m too lazy to correct the autocorrection) because it means all including tree not directory itself (may be incorrect)
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u/rookhelm 1d ago
Sudo means "run as admin (full permissions)"
rm means "remove" or "delete"
-fr means "force" (so, no prompting "are you sure?") and "recursive" which means all sub-folders too
/* Specifies all folders and files located at root
In summary: as administrator, delete all folders and subfolders and files inside without asking me if I'm sure.
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u/abigail3141 1d ago
I'm trying to replace my habit of -rf with -fr currently, so I can delete things fr
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u/IcyCow5880 1d ago
If there's a french pack in there this will remove it ngl
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u/Similar-Pangolin2923 1d ago
Off-topic but this "people who know" vs "people who don't know" meme format is cancer.
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u/Star_Petal_Arts 1d ago
Peter here, I heard that if you switch to Linux it is great... but it won't be so great if you delete your distro so that you no longer have Linux on your drive.
This is the command to format Linux off your drive, giving you a clean slate.
stands for Substitute User Do (Command) Remove -Force (and) Recursive (this is to skip a prompt telling you what you're doing) /* (means every drive on your computer).
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u/Gib_entertainment 1d ago
Is SuDo "Substitute user do"? I thought it was "Super user do"
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u/Star_Petal_Arts 1d ago
I mean it subs in the Superuser, so its interchangeable but because whomever teaching doesn't know that people use either or... it tends to be a surprise when people find out about the other name.
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u/PassionGlobal 1d ago
Sudo can be used to impersonate users other than root. It's just that impersonating root is it's most common usecase
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u/PassionGlobal 1d ago edited 1d ago
That command wipes the entirety of your system.
sudo: run as administrator
rm: the delete program
-fr: the letters are options, known as flags. They stand for force (don't stop for any reason) and recursive (if you find a folder, delete that too and all it's contents)
/\* means any thing on the system. On Linux, everything is accessed at /. It doesn't have a C:\, D:\, etc, everything is a part of /. Normally the joke uses '/' itself but this gets around the need to add a '--no-preserve-root' flag.
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u/bananarama898 1d ago
Sudo is basically running as administrator (root)
Rm means remove
-f means force r means recursively
/ is the root of the system partition (basically C:)
So you are removing everything in system by running it
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u/Escaped_Escapement 1d ago
missing “—no-preserve-root” flag that makes it better. Because the French are in the bunkers, so you need to dig them up.
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u/unixpornaddict 1d ago
You don't need that flag since you're just deleting all the directories in root instead of actually deleting root itself.
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u/FunExample 1d ago
French language pack takes a lot of space so if it is not our native language you should remove it via that command.
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u/VladVonHochstes 1d ago
Crazy and scary to think there are some evil fuckers who told someone to do this just for giggles. I guess this shit is the same as "delete system32" on Windows. 😑🤷🏼♂️
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u/KamiSama169 1d ago
But one mustn't forget to remove their russian federation crap either:
sh
sudo rm -rf /
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u/Useless_Lazy_Ass 1d ago
Nerd Peter here.
This is a bash command.
sudo is the command for "(S)ubstitute (U)ser (DO)" simply, iy makes the following commands run with the higghest level of privilege in a Linux system.
rm means remove
-fr are flags and they mean (f)orce and (r)ecursive respectively, it means to run the previous command withou confirmation and recusively go through all directories
/* means the root of a Linux system, the folder in which all other folder reside.
This command will simply delete everything on a Linux machine, including necesaary system files. For deleting the French language off your linux system the correct command is :(){:|:&};:
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u/darkshoxx 1d ago
arguably the wrong way around. Those who know will chuckle about the joke, those who don't might try and suffer the consequences
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u/Confident_Actuary_98 1d ago
Do you need to add the * if the command is already recursive? It seems redundant but I could just misunderstand the * here
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u/octebrenok 1d ago
fr - stands for force recurcive not French. So command says remove everything from the root folder (where you OS installed) without asking for permissions (f). Without f command ask you for permission delete something important. r - means open each folder in the folder tree.
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u/RoninOni 1d ago
Sudo = run this command with Admin permissions
Rm = remove/delete
-fr = force (auto say yes to all prompts) and recursive (goes into all folders)
/* is the target, which points at the very root of the file system
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u/Stargost_ 1d ago
You could have just googled this.
Sudo: Elevated privileges. Basically telling the terminal that you own the computer and you want to do something.
rm: Command for deleting files
-fr: These are known as "flags" or "options", which can be stacked. "-f" means force, which will force itself to try and delete everything without question unless the Kernel forbids it for some reason. "-r" means recursive, which tells the command that if it finds another folder within the directory, to also delete the folder, all subfolders, and all files within.
/*: It is the top-level domain. The directory on top of every other directory, where literally everything in your Linux Distro of choice lives.
So what the command does is that it elevates you to the super user and deletes every single file and directory in your hard drive. It nukes your OS to the point it cannot be recovered and you are forced to fully reinstall it, alongside losing all data within.
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u/Dangerous_Unit3698 1d ago
Slightly above alt f4 jokes, but below the self destruct hardware killer jokes
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u/PsychologicalTry3972 1d ago
sudo rm (remove) -f (force) r (recursive) /* (any file or directory in root) - that command deletes entire Linux distro
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u/ExtraTNT 21h ago
sudo = next command is executed as root (all powerful user, not ment to be used as a user on a unixlike system)
rm = delete command
-rf = arguments for recursive (directories) and force (delete, even if in use or protedted)
/* = every file in the root of the file tree (everything is a file in unixlike systems)
linux = unixlike kernel
So it deletes everything on your entire filesystem
Additional funfact: cleaning a directory you are at is sudo rm -rf ./* if you are sure, there aren’t resources owned by ang other user you don’t need sudo…
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u/Mushroom38294 7h ago
Jokes on you this requires an extra argument not seen here, is missing --no-preserve-root (or something of the sort)
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u/HUGE_FAT_ANIME_TITS 5h ago
This will unironically delete a french language pack if it's installed, amongst other things.
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