noclobber vs command not found

[jid...@jidanni.org]

Hello noclobber fans. It was a cheery day, until during an aptitude
"safe-upgrade",

Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme ...

(gtk-update-icon-cache:13613): GdkPixbuf-WARNING **: Cannot open
pixbuf loader module file
'/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache': No
such file or directory

This likely means that your installation is broken.
Try running the command #OH NO they forgot to mention the full path!
gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders > /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache
to make things work again for the time being.

So ever obedient, I do

# gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders > /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache
bash: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache: cannot overwrite existing file
# gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders >| /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache
bash: gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders: command not found

Now you can guess the feeling:
Why didn't it (bash) tell me in the first place (first line) before I destroyed the file?
It (bash) was already talking to me on the first line, goading me along,
things were looking good, and then like the O'Jays Backstabbers song,
whammo there on the second line. A sucker punch!

So,
I know it is not in the traditional order of operations, but you might
consider telling the user somehow, "oh and by the way...'.

[Greg Wooledge]

On Sun, Jun 09, 2013 at 08:39:10AM +0800, jid...@jidanni.org wrote:
> # gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders >| /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders.cache
> bash: gdk-pixbuf-query-loaders: command not found

I know it doesn't directly address your issue, but in cases like these,
I find tab completion to be a primary safeguard. If I type gdk-<TAB>
and there are no completion results, then I won't bother typing (or
pasting) the rest of the command.

Many programs assume that you have a full KDE or GNOME suite installed,
but lots of us have no such thing.

[jid...@jidanni.org]

>>>>> "GW" == Greg Wooledge <woo...@eeg.ccf.org> writes:
GW> I find tab completion to be a primary safeguard
Yes but in this case I am merely obediently copying the whole line with
my mouse and stuffing it into the shell. Thanks anyway though.