You want to allow rm -rf * (shell globbing happens first, so rm cannot know it was called with ). You also want to allow rm -rf ./ but you don't want to allow

You want to allow rm -rf * (shell globbing happens first, so rm cannot know it was called with ). You also want to allow rm -rf ./ but you don't want to allow rm -rf / *. And that's where `--preserve-root` comes in, which is default now I believe. EDIT: How annoying. The asterisk makes emphasis weirdly.