Hi

I am predominantly in the Peppermint Forums but thank you Dan for the additional information.

Deeply felt sadness over Mark's passing.

Sincerest Condolences to you and your family.

Regards Zeb...

This is very sad news indeed and our heartfelt condolences go out to Mark's family and friends at this difficult time.

I never knew Mark, but felt as though I did.  I came to Linux about 10 years ago and, as many do, stumbled on this site by accident whilst searching for information.  What a good day that was!  Mark was always prepared to help no matter how simple or complicated the issue and his advice and clear instructions were much appreciated by all. 

I'm sure I speak for everyone who frequents these forums and has benefitted from Mark's expertise over the years in saying - Thank You Mark, for everything you have done in helping me to understand about Linux and for getting me out of the holes I had dug for myself.  May you rest in peace.

Rich

Hi David,

I once watched a gobby consultant type in "rm -rf /*" on the console of an IMB RS6000 running AIX, in front of a client, while bragging about how the UNIX system was so great it could withstand such a command. I cautioned him (in front of said client) not to press return, a caution that was met with much displeasure and an insistence that of course he would not actually press return .. at which point he did in fact, accidentally press return.

I immediately left the building, however I did hear that he was on-site for the following three days and never returned to our office (!)

In general it's Linux's job to do what it's told and the user's job not to be an idiot careless.    .. there are always special cases, but you never know when someone might actually want to do something that you think they shouldn't .. Off the top of my head, I think you can mount an overlay filesystem on top of "/", which is how "live CD" systems used to work .. in which case "rm -rf /" should strip any changed files from your system (?) leaving it running on the underlying (possibly read-only) file-system .. or if you mount "/" read-only, "rm -rf /" might remove any RW files from non-root mount points. (although I've not tried it)

Hi all,
Sadly Mark passed away earlier this morning 14/01/2020. He went peacefully but had problems a week or so ago with breathing and coughing so went hospital. They thought he was getting better but last night had to get more oxygen and painkillers to help him feel okay. This has meant that he passed peacefully.
I know he loved peppermint and the work he did for you guys really helped him. He had somewhere he belonged and it is down to you all, I can not thank you enough for the support you gave to him.
I am not sure who to contact so I am trying all forums and emails I can.
If you want to ask questions I am happy to help,
I know limited IT but I am kind of walking in his footsteps and will help any way I can.
He would want that.
Thanks,
Dan

Hi all,
Sadly Mark passed away earlier this morning 14/01/2020. He went peacefully but had problems a week or so ago with breathing and coughing so went hospital. They thought he was getting better but last night had to get more oxygen and painkillers to help him feel okay. This has meant that he passed peacefully.
I know he loved peppermint and the work he did for you guys really helped him. He had somewhere he belonged and it is down to you all, I can not thank you enough for the support you gave to him. 
I am not sure who to contact so I am trying all forums and emails I can. 
If you want to ask questions I am happy to help,
I know limited IT but I am kind of walking in his footsteps and will help any way I can.
He would want that.
Thanks,
Dan