How long ago was this? AFAIK the `rm` command in almost every linux distro these days will NOT let you delete `/` unless you add `--no-preserve-root` parameter.
The whole problem seems to be bizarrely defined when it comes to data structures.
Basically the input is `data+config` merged into one object and the return value is `data+config+tranversal_properties` merged into one object with lots of solutions mutating the original input data.