FAQ

Here's a list of Frequently Asked Questions that haven't been asked yet. They're here anyway.

rm?
rm is the name of a UNIX command that posses the awesome power of removing files and directories from the file system. It first appeared in version 1 of AT&T UNIX, featuring state-of-the art rm technology. Probably the coolest and badest thing that came with that operativing system anyway. rm has become popular to the extent that every UNIX-like system now ships with an rm executable.
It still causes systems administrators to cry blood.
Trivia:In a lame attempt to spare some tears, RedHat aliased rm to rm -i back in the 90's. Unfortunately, the distribution also came with lots of remote root backdoors, leading to countless rm -rf /'s.
Why would I want to rm your Mac?
What a stupid question to ask. Why wouldn't you?
It's common knowledge that everybody have a secret dream of rm'ing someone, it's just that they don't talk about it. This is your chance to outlive your dream.
To make things more exciting, I don't have a copy of the stuff on this computer anywhere but on this harddrive. If someone manages to rm it, it will be a really painful experience for me, hence more fun for you.
If you want to be rm'd so bad, why don't you just give away your root-password?
That would ruin the fun and excitement, wouldn't it?
How do I rm with style?
Ahh, there! The first intelligent question so far. Here's how.
bash# rm -rf /
Notice the order of the letters in the option switch. Specifying the options in any other way, such as -r -f or -fr, is lame and should not, under any circumstances, be done.
Is there a picture of the computer?
Yes, here. It actually came in orange, but due to its natural enemies such as snow and the many polar bears that are walking around here in Sweden, it has adapted to its environment and become white/silverish.
Or perhaps it too wants to look like the cover of a Windows book?
Is there a better way to destroy a filesystem than rm?
Yes, indeed there is a much better way.
Use the dd command to wipe over the file systems, such as:
bash# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/disk0s3
This makes it a lot harder to recover data from the system, as it wipes over it with nulls. However, The box may die before it is completed.