Back in 2015, a bug on Steam could delete every file on your computer.

The cause: one missing variable.

#programming #techhistory #linux

Coding with Lewis

In 2015, a bug in Steam's installation script caused it to recursively delete a user's entire home directory and connected drives. The culprit was an `rm -rf $STEAMROOT` command that defaulted to `rm -rf /` when the STEAMROOT variable was empty — effectively wiping everything from the root directory. The bug was triggered when a user moved their Steam folder and symlinked it back, causing Steam to attempt a reinstall. It was eventually fixed with a simple code change, but the incident serves as a cautionary tale about dangerous shell scripting patterns in widely-used software.

The Steam Bug That Deleted Your Entire Home Directory

safe code they said. My drive won’t be lobotomised they said.

What can, go wrong will, go wrong.

what people don’t fully understand, it that all the testing, reviewing and linting is still a best effort case, something can still get through , unforeseen combination of events can cause the software to behave in unforeseen ways , even causing havoc , this is a 2015 event , and yes, those are prehistoric times , but these silly bugs do exist , and will likely remain in existence for a very long time to come