I've removed /etc. How can I restore it?
Please, don't laugh at me until you have read the message!
I was doing some maintanance tasks, removing old files with rmold (it is
an alias for "rm -rf *~ .*~"). I noticed (with "ll /etc|less") that /etc
had some old files and I did "rmold /etc", unknowing of the catastrofic
effects: It removed the whole directory!
I tried to use dselect to configure all packages installed but dselect
didn't executed. Then I had a panic, the system freezed and I booted.
But then initd refused to go on (I had no /etc/init.d files!).
Then I tried to install Debian again with the Hamm CDROM, but when
installing base system some errors ocurred and I couldn't finished. I
couldn't see the errors because messages were covered down with error
mesages that explained that something failed but not where it failed!
Then, I decided to make a SuSe boot disk in order to install the Minimal
system and then trying again with Debian, but SuSe also failed.
Again I tried out with Debian Hamm. Then, when "mounting already
initialized partitions" (I didn't want to format them and loose the work
of six months!) I noticed a warning message: I shouldn't mount
partitions before checking them. So I unmounted and checked them. There
were plenty of errors due (I suposse) to the first reset, when the
system hanged and I had panic). So I e2fsck'ed them various times in
order to have them right, I went on with instalation, and finally I had
the base system installed.
I didn't use dselect in order to install the standard packages because I
had them already installed, but then, and after rebooting, I tried to
use dselect in order to configure all my packages installed in these
last six months. Dselect told me that I had installed almost no
packages!
I've lost the list of packages installed in these months! How could I
restore it?
Then I remembered that two months ago I tar'ed the /etc directory for a
friend, searched the diskette, found it, and untar'ed it. Thus, I had
the /etc of 23 december 1998. In order to obtain newer versions of /etc
files for packages installed I dselect'ed and installed via ftp all
packages listed (the base system). Then configured them, by choosing
between the package /etc files and those already installed.
Now I have a running system, but dselect says I only have 134 packages.
I remember the name of the last five or six packages installed previous
week, but nomore.
How can I get a list of packages I really DO have installed in order to
reinstall again in order dselect to know the truth?
Thanks, now you can laugh!
--
Conrado Badenas (Assistant Lecturer)
Department of Thermodynamics. University of Valencia
c/. Doctor Moliner, 50 | e-m: Conrado.Badenas@uv.es
46100 Burjassot (Valencia) | Phn: +34-63864350
SPAIN | Fax: +34-63983385
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