A number of users have reported that running "rm --no-preserve-root -rf /" not only deletes all their files (as expected), but also permanently bricks their computers (which is not). Tracing the issue revealed that the ultimate cause was that SystemD mounted the EFI pseudo-fs as read-write even when this FS was not listed in fstab, and deleting certain files in this pseudo-fs causes certain buggy, but very common, firmware not to POST anymore. A user reported this bug on SystemD's GitHub issue tracker, asking that the FS be mounted read-only instead of read-write, and said bug was immediately closed as invalid. The comment thread for the bug was locked shortly after. Discuss.
Links:
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/2402
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/02/01/running-a-single-delete-command-can-permanently-brick-laptops-from-inside-linux/
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday February 09 2016, @02:48PM
the only ally that the open source community has been able to consistently rely on for two decades.
Hey, I used to be a Red Hat fan, too. But, like Sun, all good things must end someday.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"