Re: Why @#! is not Emacs using the Recycle bin on w32?

[David House]

2008/8/29 Jason Rumney <address@hidden>:
> Read my earlier mail on the subject. The Recycle Bin can be a security hole
> when users expect files to be deleted immediately, and when not using the
> Explorer (or standard File Dialog which is based on, and looks like
> Explorer) it is quite reasonable to expect Explorer's recycle bin to not be
> involved.

That is not a security hole. If you delete a file using Emacs' current
deletion mechanism, the file is still recoverable. If you truly want
sensitive data gone, you need to use a different application anyway.

> Talking of "bypassing the Recycle Bin" makes it sound like we have to do
> extra work to do not use the recycle bin.

I did not intend that, sorry.

> In fact the opposite is true, and
> I'm not aware of ANY non-system program other than Emacs that takes the
> trouble to use the Recycle Bin on Windows.

This is only true of non-GUI applications, of course: most GUI
programs will use a standard Explorer shell for opening/exploring
files, and thus deleting files in them will use the Recycle Bin.
Whether dired is more of a GUI application or a command-line
application is obviously the source of confusion: Lennart expected it
to act like a GUI, whereas yourself and Eli expected it to act like a
command-line.

Choosing which system is preferable is tricky, but I'd say defaulting
to one that does the least harm is probably a safe bet.

-- 
-David