trm - A Safer Delete Utility
trm.sh [-Vcdhistvx] [-g graveyard] file|dir [...]
trm is a file- and directory removal tool with several key features:
Files are not actually removed, but put in a "graveyard" where they can later be retrieved. By default, this is in ~/.graveyard, but this can be overriden on the command line with the -g option.
There is a "test mode" which doesn't actually do anything, but only shows you what the program would do if it actually executed,
Deleted items are stored in the graveyard in the same directory hierarchy they were originally in.
By default, deleted items have a datetime stamp or "serial number" appended to them. This allows the graveyard to accumulate different versions of a file- or directory tree as they are deleted over time.
trm can also be use to simply copy a set of files- and/or directories into the graveyard, without actually removing them from their original location. This is handy if you want to take advantage of the serial number capability and keep versioned "deletions" around, but not actually remove the original files- or directories.
Delete or copies can be invoked interactively so you can select which of the targets you actually want affected.
You can either run the program as a standalone utility - via the trm.sh program - Or, you can source it - source trm.sh. This loads the trm shell function into the current shell context for subsequent use from the command line or another program.
You can put commonly used command line options in the $TRM environment variable. For instance, you may want to default to test mode operation by doing something like export TRM="-t".
You can override the program's default behavior with a number of command line options:
-V display version control commit ID -c copy targets to graveyard, don't remove them -d empty the current graveyard (permanent removal) -h display this help screen -g graveyard use named graveyard instead of default -i interactive removal/copy -s don't generate serial number suffixes -t test mode, just show what would be done -v verbose mode - be noisy -x execute, overrides previous -t
Note that, in these examples, trm.sh means we're invoking the program as a standalone utility that is presumably somewhere on your $PATH. trm means you've sourced it previously and it's being called as shell function from your current command line context.
You can use trm just like you do conventional rm:
trm /tmp/foo /home/me/bar
So the files/directories called foo and bar would be "removed` from their current location and placed in ~./.graveyard/tmp/foo and ~./.graveyard/home/me/bar respectively. If the required directory structure does not exist in the graveyard, trm will create it automatically.
Directory removal or copy is always recursive.
Options are processed left-to-right and take effect in that same order. For example, trm.sh -ve will clear out the graveyard and report on everything it is removing. However, trm.sh -ev will not because the deletions will occur before the verbose option is recognized.
If you are using multiple graveyards, you can use this property to your advantage to clear them all with one command:
trm -v -g gy1 -d -g gy2 -d -g gy3 -d ....
Serial numbers are appened to the target as named on the command line. If you delete a file, then it wil go into the graveyard as file.serialnumber. Similarly, a directory goes into the graveyard as dir.serialnumber. However, the names of anthing within that directory, are left untouched. This allows you to decide at what level of detail you want delete versioning to be maintained.
If one of your delete/copy targets is a symlink, it will simply be moved or copied to the graveyard as-is. However, if you refer to a symlink somewhere in the path to a target, it will be expanded. That target will be moved or copied to a directory tree within the graveyard that mirrors the canonical location of the original target.
For example, say you have a symlink such as /local -> /usr/local. Then:
trm /local # Moves the symlink to ~/.graveyard/local
But:
trm /local/bin/x # Moves x to ~/,graveyard/usr/local/bin/x
None known as of this release.
trm is Copyright (c) 2016 TundraWare Inc., Des Plaines, IL 60018 USA
For terms of use, see the trm-license.txt file in the program distribution.
Tim Daneliuk trm@tundraware.com
$Id: '1ca95bc tundra Fri Oct 28 09:27:57 2016 -0500'
This document was produced with emacs, RestructuredText, and TeX Live.
You can find the latest version of this program at:
http://www.tundraware.com/Software/trm