README
1This is srm, a secure replacement for rm(1). Unlike the standard rm,
2it overwrites the data in the target files before unlinking them. This
3prevents command-line recovery of the data by examining the raw block
4device. It may also help frustrate physical examination of the disk,
5although it's unlikely that it completely protects against this type of
6recovery.
7
8Srm uses algorithms found in "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic
9and Solid-State Memory" by Peter Gutmann and THC Secure Delete (the
10overwrite, truncate, rename, unlink sequence).
11
12Srm was originally released under the GPL. Versions 1.1 and later are
13released under the MIT/X11 license, which is much less restrictive. For
14your convenience, some commonly needed modules are distributed in the
15lib/ directory. These may be under different licenses.
16
17All users, but especially Linux users, should be aware that srm will
18only work on file systems that overwrite blocks in place. In
19particular, it will *NOT* work on reiserfs or the vast majority of
20journaled file systems. It should work on ext2, FAT-based file
21systems, and the BSD native file system. On ext3 srm will try to disable
22journaling of data, see the verbose output if this fails.
23
24Patches and bug reports are all appreciated and should be submitted to
25the sourceforge bug tracker, so others can see and discuss those
26problems.
27
28original author: Matt Gauthier <elleron@comcast.net>
29current maintainer: Dirk Jagdmann <doj@cubic.org>
30