resrm

resrm is a safe, drop-in replacement for the Linux rm command with undo/restore support. It moves files to a per-user trash instead of permanently deleting them, while still allowing full sudo support for root-owned files.

Features

• Move files and directories to a Trash folder instead of permanent deletion

• Restore deleted files by short ID or exact basename

• Empty trash safely

• Supports -r, -f, -i, --skip-trash options

• Works with sudo for root-owned files

• Automatically prunes Trash entries older than $RESRM_TRASH_LIFE days (default 7, minimum 1)

  Note: if you need immediate deletion, use the --skip-trash flag.

Installation

From GuardUtils package repo

This is the preferred method of installation.

Debian/Ubuntu

1) Import the GPG key

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://repo.sysmd.uk/guardutils/guardutils.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/guardutils.gpg

The GPG fingerprint is 0032C71FA6A11EF9567D4434C5C06BD4603C28B1.

2) Add the APT source

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/guardutils.gpg] https://repo.sysmd.uk/guardutils/debian stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/guardutils.list

3) Update and install

sudo apt update
sudo apt install resrm

Fedora/RHEL

1) Import the GPG key

sudo rpm --import https://repo.sysmd.uk/guardutils/guardutils.gpg

2) Add the repository configuration

sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/guardutils.repo > /dev/null << 'EOF'
[guardutils]
name=GuardUtils Repository
baseurl=https://repo.sysmd.uk/guardutils/rpm/$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://repo.sysmd.uk/guardutils/guardutils.gpg
EOF

4) Update and install

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
sudo dnf install resrm

From PyPI

NOTE: To use resrm with sudo, the path to resrm must be in the $PATH seen by root.
Either:

• install resrm as root, or
• add the path to resrm to the secure_path parameter in /etc/sudoers. For example, where /home/user/.local/bin is where resrm is:

Defaults secure_path="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/home/user/.local/bin"

Install with:

pip install resrm

From this repository

git clone https://git.sysmd.uk/guardutils/resrm.git
cd resrm/
poetry install

Usage

# Move files to trash
resrm file1 file2

# Recursive remove of a directory
resrm -r mydir

# Force remove (ignore nonexistent)
resrm -f file

# Interactive remove
resrm -i file

# Permanent delete (bypass trash)
resrm --skip-trash file

# List trash entries
resrm -l

# Restore a file by ID or basename
resrm --restore <id|name>

# Show full details of trashed item
resrm --inspect <id|name>

# Empty the trash permanently
resrm --empty

Trash Location

Normal users: ~/.local/share/resrm/files

Root user: /root/.local/share/resrm/files

Configuration

To control how long trashed files are kept, add this line to your shell configuration (e.g. ~/.bashrc):

export RESRM_TRASH_LIFE=10

TAB completion

Add this to your .bashrc

eval "$(register-python-argcomplete resrm)"

And then

source ~/.bashrc

pre-commit

This project uses pre-commit to run automatic formatting and security checks before each commit (Black, Bandit, and various safety checks).

To enable it:

poetry install
poetry run pre-commit install

This ensures consistent formatting, catches common issues early, and keeps the codebase clean.

Support

If you find resrm useful, consider supporting its development: