-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 07/02/08 04:33, Jonas Meurer wrote: > Hello, > > I've broken my debian/unstable system by executing as root the command > # srm -r -d /tmp/.* > > I aborted the command after something between 20 and 40 seconds, but > since then, my system behaves strange: > > If I try to login as normal user on the console, I get the error > "Unable to cd to '/home/user'" and the login aborts. [snip] > > Just to prevent any flamewar about why I (should not) have invoked the > command in the first time, I know that I did make a mistake, but still > the reason why I invoked the command was that I intended to wipe all > data from /tmp to replace the /tmp on my rootfs with a tmpfs. srm > from the package secure_delete is a tool for secure file deletion, > just like shred or wipe. According to the manpage, the cmdline option > -d makes srm "ignore the two dot special files "." and ".."", so I > thought that the command was safe. > Few seconds later I had to learn that it was not. The execution took far > longer than it should for wiping some small files from /tmp, and I > aborted the execution after something between 20 and 40 seconds.
No flames, but "thanks!" for the informative post. A reboot cleanly clears out /tmp, so ISTM that the way to accomplish your ultimate goal is to run sfill soon after boot. - -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA "Kittens give Morbo gas. In lighter news, the city of New New York is doomed." -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkhrVlQACgkQS9HxQb37XmeUJgCgtuTaJG9pQZCeJAQAfQAdLGrN /ioAnAoRGIgzlyY2l9gWeOXlzLf7a1zh =rMfL -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
