With reference to ticket the "not a ordinary file" problem is not restricted to the rm command.  Attempting to do "fossil update" or "fossil checkout --latest" when any file has been deleted will cause a similar error.

This change in behavior appears to remove all straightforward means of restoring deleted files; multiple commands or extra scripting will be needed if one wishes to restore several files.

Not to mention that it breaks existing scripts written to automate fossil processes, for unclear reasons.