Re: diskscrub and shred

[Jim Meyering]

Toni Ruottu wrote:
> I've been trying to get Diskscrub (
> http://code.google.com/p/diskscrub/ ) to Ubuntu installation cd.
> Having it on the cd would be good as it'd allow one to boot from the
> cd and securely erase the entire hard disk.
>
> Usually getting a package to the cd is done in three steps:
>   1) get the software packaged
>   2) apply for official support from Canonical
>   3) prove that including the package on the cd is a good idea
>
> The software just got packaged and was included into Ubuntu universe,
> and obviously having such a tool on the cd is a good idea. So I got
> two of three covered. However it turned out that GNU Coreutils package
> contains a similar too called shred. Adding another tool with the same
> purpose was considered bad, as it would complicate things. Also a wide
> range of other systems ship with Coreutils preinstalled, so having a
> proper tool as part of the Coreutils is desired.
>
> It was decided that instead of adding yet another tool, we should try
> to get the developers behind the said tools to co-operate, and get all
> the useful features from Diskscrub merged into shred where they will
> be useful for a larger user community. So here I am delivering the
> message to whom I believe to be the lead behind the two projects.

Sounds like a fine project.
Now all we need is someone willing to compare features and to
present the results.  Maybe someone will even propose a patch or two.