[GTALUG] Uh-oh. Command not found

[phiscock at ee.ryerson.ca]

Because Firefox kept locking up and various other things were out of date,
I decided to upgrade to the latest version of Linux Mint. The upgrade
seemed to work but resulted in a blank desktop, so I decided a complete
re-install was required.

So I backed up the /home directory to an external USB hard drive,
programmed a USB key with a Mint .iso and booted up into the latest Mint.

That went fine. Then I tried to restore the backup of the home directory,
the computer announced that it couldn't read the file, something about
'bad superblock', which is enough to bring one's heart to a complete and
utter stop. *Fortunately*, bumping against the USB cable got it working,
and I think the problem was a bad connector.

OK, piece of cake from here on, right? Then in the process of moving files
from the backup to my home directory, I forgot that I was in superuser
mode and ~ was shorthand for /root. That made a mess, and in the process
of sorting out that, I moved the /bin directory. So of course, no commands
worked at all. (This reminds me of the scenario where someone executes rm
-rf * in superuser mode and only discovers the mistake when the computer
announces: rm command not found. I know someone who actually did that.
(Not me ;) ). Arrrgh.

So I decided that the simplest route was to re-install.

Then, for some reason, the USB key wouldn't boot. Fortunately, an old
Knoppix CD did boot, establishing that boot from CD was still working. So
I prevailed on my friend Gabriel to burn me an .iso on DVD, and that
worked.

So, to my colleagues in TLUG, I ask: How would you deal with the
re-location of /bin, assuming you didn't want to re-install?

Peter

-- 
Peter Hiscocks
Syscomp Electronic Design Limited, Toronto
http://www.syscompdesign.com
USB Oscilloscope and Waveform Generator
647-839-0325