sudo: unable to execute /bin/rm: Success

Problem

When trying to delete a bunch of files using something like sudo rm *, I get this error:

sudo: unable to execute /bin/rm: Success

Solution

This is caused by a buffer overflow when expanding the *. Instead, use find. Here’s an example:

sudo find . -name '*' -exec rm {} \;

Note that the wildcard (*) is enclosed in single quotes which will (unlike double quotes) prevent it from expanding.


Linux

71 Words

2011-02-09 10:35 +0000