A deeper look into a steam-for-linux GitHub issue (https://github.com/valvesoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/3671) investigating how a steam script was able to delete the entire contents of someone's root directory. While the direct cause of the rm -rf is fairly obvious, how it was triggered in the original bug report is not, and may forever remain a mystery...
Sources:
https://www.opensuse-forum.de/thread/10620-suse-ist-leer/?postID=70749 (buggy copy of steam.sh posted by "Acies")
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/steam
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:26 Steam on Linux
1:40 The Bug
2:58 STEAMROOT
6:04 reset_steam()
8:11 Valve theory
9:21 My "theory"
10:34 Fix
Corrections:
- At 0:56 the descriptions for /bin and /usr/bin are historically correct, but on modern Linux distributions (e.g. beginning in Ubuntu 19.04), /bin is replaced with a symlink to /usr/bin (in a transition called "merged /usr" or "/usr merge") so both contain the same contents.
Music:
- We Shop Song by Philip Milman
- Blue Mood by Robert Munzinger
- Aloft by LEMMiNO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNEKdkB_kdc)
- Firecracker by LEMMiNO (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulfoU2MziOc)
- Cool Vibes by Kevin MacLeod
- Financial Obligations by Philip Milman
