g.remove deletes raster maps by default: could delete the wrong map

[benducke]

If I run g.remove with only the name of a non-existing map, I get this:

g.remove tmp Removing raster <tmp> WARNING: Raster map <tmp> not found WARNING: <tmp> nothing removed

This indicates that g.remove tries to remove a raster of name "tmp" by default. I am not sure this is good behaviour. What if the user meant a vector map and forgot to explicitely type "vect=tmp". In such a case, the wrong map might get deleted, instead of just an error message being issued.

Also, the synopsis for g.remove does not indicate that there is a default removal type.

[martinl]

From ML

It's "default" behaviour. If the first argument doesn't contain an "="
character, it's assumed to be the value of the first registered
option.

This behaviour applies to all modules. Currently, there isn't any way
for individual commands to disable it without resorting to "hacks",
e.g. making the first option a dummy option (which would then show up
in the help output and manual page).

Glynn

[wenzeslaus]

See and comment on #2414 (Replace g.list/g.remove with g.mlist/g.mremove) which might solve this issue. This has to be solved before 7.0 because it requires interface change.

[hcho]

See #2414. Now the interface of g.remove has changed to require a type explicitly.

[neteler]

Closing since the backport of the new interface of g.remove has been backported to relbranch7.